A patient suffering from Whitmore's disease

In August alone, up to 12 people were hospitalised with Whitmore’s disease at Bach Mai Hospital. Among those, four had died.

Most of the patients are from the northern and northern central region where are now in the rainy season which provides good conditions for the disease's development.

Most recently, the centre provided the treatment to a woman in Thanh Hoa Province sustaining Whitmore's disease, resulting in critical nose injuries.

Initially, she was diagnosed to contract staphylococcus but then tested positive to Whitmore's disease, so doctors had to change the treatment regime.

After the intensive treatment with combined antibiotics, her condition has much improved. She, however, the treatment would need at least for three months to avoid the relapse.

The disease has a high mortality rate of approximately 40% if the patient is misdiagnosed and does not get proper treatment, Cuong warned.

Whitmore’s disease was a dangerous acute infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Burkholderia pseudomallei transmitted through contact with contaminated soil or water. Symptoms include fever, pneumonia, abscesses and inflammation of the brain and joints.

The disease was first spotted in the world in 1911 and in Vietnam in 1936.

Currently, there is no vaccine for the disease which can even kill patients within two days.