CDC Asked to Investigate Mysterious Illness in Vietnam
Published at
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(HANOI, Vietnam) — Vietnamese health officials asked the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate a mysterious skin disease which has killed 19 people in central Vietnam.
At least 171 have been sickened by the unidentified illness whose symptoms begin with a high fever then a rash and eventually organ failure. The illness first appeared in April last year however more people have been infected this year with 68 new infections and eight deaths.
State health officials visited the Ba To district in Quang Ngai province but could not identify the illness and asked WHO and the CDC for assistance.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio