Vietnam has reported its first death from streptococcus suis this year

​The Vietnamese capital Hanoi has reported its first death from a strain of streptococcus suis this year.

An 86-year-old woman died of the infection, local media reported on Tuesday (6 August). She was taken to a hospital on Monday for tests with a high fever, headache and lethargy, and died of streptococcus suis.

Since the beginning of the year, seven human cases of Streptococcus suis have been detected in Hanoi.

According to the Hanoi Center for Disease Control, most cases were infected after slaughtering pigs, eating pig blood cakes or undercooked pork.

Streptococcus suis originates from pigs, and human infection with the bacterium usually causes severe clinical symptoms and requires long-term and expensive treatment. The patient's condition can also rapidly worsen, leading to complications such as septic shock, coma and multiple organ failure.