China coronavirus: Vietnam flags likely human transmission case of father from Wuhan infecting son
- A 65-year-old man from Wuhan could have infected his 27-year-old son while both were travelling in Vietnam, doctors said in The New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday
- Both were in contact with 28 others in four cities in Vietnam, but they have not developed any signs of an upper respiratory infection
The letter, co-signed by nine Vietnamese doctors, outlined events leading to the country’s first two confirmed cases of the 2019-nCoV virus on January 22. The virus has claimed at least 132 lives and infected at least 6,052 people, the vast majority in mainland China.
The doctors described the cases as a “family cluster”, suggesting the first patient – a 65-year-old man from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province – had infected his 27-year-old son who had not visited mainland China recently, while both were travelling within Vietnam.
They noted the older Chinese man had become ill on January 17, four days after he first arrived in Hanoi. On January 22, he was admitted to hospital in Ho Chi Minh City with fever and fatigue. His wife who travelled with him showed no symptoms.
The man tested positive for the coronavirus although he told doctors he had not been exposed to any “wet market”. Experts initially believed a seafood market in Wuhan was the epicentre of the contagion but questions have since emerged about the accuracy of this assessment after studies indicated not all infections were linked to the market.