Vietnam makes attempt to battle dengue fever

The dengue fever is now in its peak season in many provinces especially in Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong delta and the Southeast region with dengue cases highly increasing compared to the same period last year; accordingly, health authorities have made attempts to battle the disease but the prevention task bumped into difficulties.
A medical worker is spraying chemical to kill mosquito (Photo: SGGP)
A medical worker is spraying chemical to kill mosquito (Photo: SGGP)
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) of HCMC, many districts especially Binh Chanh and Hoc Mon have outbreaks of dengue fever. Those places cover unused land, trash dumps, and stagnant water pools, which are perfect breeding places of mosquitoes.
In the center's report, the city reported 7, 833 cases of dengue fever infection in August alone, an increase of 18 percent over July. Total cases of the first eight months were 39,814 cases, a year-on-year increase of 142 percent.
From the beginning of the year, there have been many dengue outbreaks in the Mekong Delta.
Can Tho City Children’s Hospital has admitted 876 cases of dengue fever, witnessing a year-on-year increase of 43.4 percent. According to Dr. Bui Hung Viet, Head of the infirmary’s Dengue Department, there has been a drastic surge of inpatient including serious cases.
In Dong Thap province, the first 6 months of 2019 witnessed 1,351 cases, with two deaths meanwhile in Tien Giang, the figure of infection cases was 2,400 since the beginning of the year.
So far, the Mekong Delta region has had eight deaths ; worse, the number of adult patients has been accelerating.
Moreover, the Preventive Health Center of the southern central province of Binh Thuan announced the province is one of 15 provinces in Vietnam having most cases of dengue.
From the year beginning, there have been 2,900 cases of dengue infection, five times higher than the same period of the previous year including one death in Tanh Linh District.
It is predicted that the infection cases will surge in the next time without effective preventative measures.
A delegation led by Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien yesterday worked with health authority in the Central City of Da Nang upon dengue prevention mission as Da Nang City is one of cities and provinces in the Central Vietnam with most infection cases of dengue.
The Health Minister noticed that it is rainy season triggering dengue outbreaks; therefore, the health authority of Da Nang must disseminate information of the disease to residents and call for resident participation in the mosquito killing campaign.

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