Rapid integrated assessment of food safety and nutrition related to pork consumption of regular consumers and mothers with young children in Vietnam

Pork is the most common and widely consumed meat product in Vietnam. The study aimed to assess nutrition and food safety risks and opportunities associated with pork value chains in Vietnam. Twenty-nine focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted in Hung Yen and Nghe An provinces with 164 participants who were both regular pork consumers and mothers with young children. In each province, three districts were selected, and in each district we selected one commune. To assess the quality of pork, we took 30 swab samples of pig carcasses at slaughterhouses, 90 pork samples at slaughterhouses and markets and analysed all samples for total bacterial count (TBC), coliforms, water holding capacity and pH. The results showed that pork was the main livestock product consumed and women are responsible for buying and preparing food for daily meals. Pork was the main animal sourced food (ASF) for Vietnamese consumers, for 50–60% of ASF. There was little knowledge of zoonotic diseases. The findings suggest further studies to address consumers’ concern on chemical contamination. Most market pork samples were not within the allowable range of limits standards of Vietnam for bacterial contamination: 90% of samples were above the official permissible limit for TBC and 98% did not meet standards for coliforms. Fifty percent of samples had acceptable pH but only 5% had acceptable water holding capacity. There were no significant differences in pork quality between intensifying Hung Yen and traditional Nghe An provinces, although there was a tendency for samples from Hung Yen to have better compliance. This rapid assessment revealed considerable interest and knowledge on pork nutrition and safety and found some behavioural but few quality and safety differences between traditional and intensifying systems. This indicated marketed pork is of low quality and safety, and a lack of support to consumers in making good choices

Expansion of KPC-producing Enterobacterales in four large hospitals in Hanoi, Vietnam

Objectives : The incidence of carbapenem resistance among nosocomial Gram-negative bacteria in Vietnam is high and increasing, including among Enterobacterales. In this study, we assessed the presence of one of the main carbapenemase genes, blaKPC, among carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) from four large hospitals in Hanoi, Vietnam, between 2010 and 2015, and described their key molecular characteristics. Methods : KPC-producing Enterobacterales were detected using conventional PCR and were further analysed using S1 nuclease pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (S1-PFGE), Southern blotting and whole-genome sequencing (WGS) for sequence typing and genetic characterisation. Results : blaKPC genes were detected in 122 (20.4%) of 599 CRE isolates. blaKPC-carrying plasmids were diverse in size. Klebsiella pneumoniae harbouring blaKPC genes belonged to ST15 and ST11, whereas KPC-producing Escherichia coli showed more diverse sequence types including ST3580, ST448, ST709 and ST405. Genotypic relationships supported the hypothesis of circulation of a population of ‘resident’ resistant bacteria in one hospital through the years and of transmission among these hospitals via patient transfer. WGS results revealed co-carriage of several other antimicrobial resistance genes and three different genetic contexts of blaKPC-2. Among these, the combination of ISEcp1–blaCTX-M and ISKpn27–blaKPC–ΔISKpn6 on the same plasmid is reported for the first time. Conclusion : We describe the dissemination of blaKPC-expressing Enterobacterales in four large hospitals in Hanoi, Vietnam, since 2010, which may have started earlier, along with their resistance patterns, sequence types, genotypic relationship, plasmid sizes and genetic context, thereby contributing to the overall picture of the antimicrobial resistance situation in Enterobacterales in Vietnam

Risk assessment of Salmonella in pork in Hanoi, Vietnam

Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) was used to assess the health risk of pork meat contaminated by Salmonella spp. in Hanoi, Vietnam. A total of 72 pork samples were collected from 4 formal markets in Long Bien District, Hanoi. Salmonella spp. was analyzed by the Most Probable Number (MPN) method. A survey consisting of self-administered structured questionnaires was conducted in 210 households to determine the consumption of pork and examine cooking and eating habits. A health risk assessment was performed for 4 scenarios of cross-contamination of Salmonella spp. including contamination from raw meat to cooked food via i) hands, ii) knife, iii) cutting board, and iv) full cross-contamination. The results showed that Salmonella spp. was detected in 25% of pork samples (18/72). The concentration of Salmonella spp. varied from 100 to 27,500 per 25 grams of pork (mean: 673 per 25 grams). Pork consumption, a component of exposure assessment, was estimated by amount and frequency. The mean amount of pork consumption was estimated at 86.1 grams per person per day; mean frequency of pork consumption was 219 days per person per year. Infection risk of Salmonella spp. was from 2.1×10-4 to 4.9×10-4 by single exposure (per consumption). The annual risk was from 4.3×10-2 to 9.5×10-2. Although this study considered only one stage of exposure in the “farm to fork” chain, the findings showed that this stage is critical and represents a potential health risk for consumers. Appropriate practices for pork meat preparation and consumption at the household level need to me targeted as risk management measures

Skin problems among farmers engaged in wastewater-fed agriculture in Namdinh Province, Vietnam

In Raschid-Sally, Liqa; Jayakody, Priyantha (Eds.). Proceedings of Workshop on Wastewater Reuse in Agriculture in Vietnam: Water Management, Environment and Human Health Aspects, Hanoi, Vietnam, 4 May 2006. In English and Vietnamese. Hanoi, Vietnam: Agriculture Publishing House; Hanoi, Vietnam: Center for Participatory Irrigation Management (CPIM) of Vietnam Institute for Water Resources Research; Hanoi, Vietnam: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Geophysics Integrated Studies in the Sun Earth System: A Cooperative Project of Vietnam, Europe, and Africa

The Hanoi Institute of Geophysics (Vietnam) will participate to international Heliophysical Year. This paper presents Vietnam‘s participation into this International cooperative project : the Vietnamese network of magnetometers, meteorological stations, ionosondes and GPS receivers involved in campaigns of measurements, the research field selected for the training of young Vietnamese scientists, and the Institutes involve in this training. This paper also presents some particularities of geophysical parameters in Vietnam : the strong amplitude of the equatorial electrojet observed by satellite data and confirmed by magnetic observations at the ground level presented for the first time to the international community, the monsoon signature etc. Finally the differences between the Asian sector and the African sector lead to the development of comparative studies between Asia and Africa

Sun-Earth System Interaction studies over Vietnam: an international cooperative project

International audienceDuring many past decades, scientists from various countries have studied separately the atmospheric motions in the lower atmosphere, in the Earth's magnetic field, in the magnetospheric currents, etc. All of these separate studies lead today to the global study of the Sun and Earth connections, and as a consequence, new scientific programs (IHY- International Heliophysical Year, CAWSES- Climate and Weather in the Sun-Earth System) are defined, in order to assume this new challenge. In the past, many scientists did not have the possibility to collect data at the same time in the various latitude and longitude sectors. Now, with the progress of geophysical sciences in many developing countries, it is possible to have access to worldwide data sets. This paper presents the particularities of geophysical parameters measured by the Vietnamese instrument networks. It introduces a cooperative Vietnamese-IGRGEA (International Geophysical Research Group Europe Africa) project, and presents, for the first time, to the international community, the geophysical context of Vietnam. Concerning the ionosphere: since 1963, during four solar cycles, the ionosonde at Phu Thuy (North Vietnam) was operating. The Phu Thuy data exhibits the common features for the ionospheric parameters, previously observed in other longitude and latitude sectors. The critical frequencies of the E, F1 and F2 ionospheric layers follow the variation of the sunspot cycle. F2 and E critical frequencies also exhibit an annual variation. The first maps of TEC made with data from GPS receivers recently installed in Vietnam illustrate the regional equatorial pattern, i.e. two maxima of electronic density at 15 N and 15 S from the magnetic equator and a trough of density at the magnetic equator. These features illustrate the equatorial fountain effect. Concerning the Earth's magnetic field: a strong amplitude of the equatorial electrojet was first observed by the CHAMP satellite at the height of 400 km in the Vietnamese longitude sector. In this paper we compare the ground magnetic observations of the Indian and Vietnamese magnetometer networks. This comparison highlights the regional structure of the amplitude of the equatorial electrojet, which is stronger in Vietnam than in India. Concerning the monsoon: Vietnam exhibits a strong monsoon and has mainly one rainy season peaking in August, hence associated with the southwest monsoon flow. But some monsoon variability from one place to another is related to the orography. In the mountainous northern regions of Vietnam, there is an "early" monsoon peaking in July. In the coastal regions between 12 N and 19 N the monsoon season is centered on October. Concerning lightning: Vietnam is a country of strong atmospheric storms with some areas of very intense lightning in North Vietnam (22,5 N, 105 E) and in South Vietnam (11 N, 107 E). In North Vietnam strong lightning is associated with the most intense rainy region. Keywords. Ionosphere (Electric fields and currents) - Meteorology and dynamics (Tropical meteorology) - Geomagnetism and paleomagnetism (Time variations, diurnal to secular