Via TuoiTreNews.vn: Two more die of unknown skin disease in Quang Ngai. Excerpt:
While health authorities have yet to identify the cause of the mysterious skin disease in central Quang Ngai Province, two more people died in Ba To District in the past 3 days, taking the death toll to 23 so far.
34-year-old woman, Pham Thi Trieu, in Reu Hamlet, Ba Dien Commune, died at 10 am on May 30 at the provincial General Hospital while 9-year-old boy, Pham Van T, died on May 28 in the same hamlet.
Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the Health Ministry’s Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, said the hair samples taken from the boy contained arsenic at a level 100 times higher than the country’s acceptable limit.
The disease has so far spread to five communes in Ba To district, including Ba Dien, Ba Ngac, Ba Xa, Ba Vinh and Ba To, of which Ba Dien is leading with the most cases.
The mysterious skin disease that first occurred in the district on April 19, 2011 is characterized by thickened skin (keratosis) over the palms and soles, causing stiffness in the limbs and ulcers on victims' hands and feet that look like burns.
There has been no disease in the world so far that is exactly identical to the strange syndrome in Quang Ngai, Health Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said at recent conference.
Most of the patients have elevated liver enzymes, but they do not suffer from infectious diseases since no symptoms of infection have been found, according to the results of patient blood tests made by Japan’s Nagasaki University, he said.
