Dengue fever is increasing, what is the mortality rate?

According to the results of infectious disease surveillance and reports from localities, the dengue fever epidemic situation is on the rise in some provinces and cities, especially the dengue fever situation in Hanoi and the hand, foot and mouth disease situation in the Southern region.

Accumulated from the beginning of the year to August 25, the whole country recorded 66,386 cases of dengue fever, including 14 deaths. Specifically, in Dong Nai (4), Dak Lak (2), Phu Yen (2), Binh Phuoc (1), Binh Thuan (1), Ho Chi Minh City (1), Khanh Hoa (1), Kien Giang (1), Long An (1)).

Dengue fever is increasing the mortality rate like picture 1 — Dengue fever has been on the rise in recent months (photo source: internet).

Compared to the same period in 2022 (with 172,567 cases, 93 deaths), the number of cases decreased by 61.5%, and deaths decreased by 79 cases.

The number of dengue fever cases in the first 8 months of 2023 was concentrated in Hanoi (5,190 cases) and some provinces in the Central and Southern regions such as Ho Chi Minh City (8,628 cases), An Giang (3,161 cases), Dong Nai (3,114 cases), Binh Duong (2,482 cases), Binh Thuan (3,118 cases), Soc Trang (2,481 cases).

According to the Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, the national mortality rate due to dengue fever in the first 8 months of 2023 was 0.02% (lower than the mortality rate due to dengue fever in the period of 2016-2020 of 0.03%), much lower than that of countries in the region (Timor Leste 1.2%, Indonesia 0.89%, Philippines 0.51%, Cambodia 0.2%, Laos 0.18%, Malaysia 0.06) and within the mortality reduction target assigned by the Prime Minister in the Health - Population Target Program for the period of 2016-2020 (≤0.09).

All deaths were recorded in the Southern, Central and Central Highlands regions. There were no deaths recorded in the Northern region.

The number of dengue fever cases recorded increased starting from week 26 (June), and increased the most in the last 3 weeks.

The number of dengue fever cases in the first 8 months of 2023 decreased in 3 regions (the South decreased by 71%, the Central region decreased by 44.3%, the Central Highlands decreased by 34%), in the North alone it increased by 125.2%, especially in Hanoi it increased by 5.3 times.

The dengue virus types circulating in 2023 are mainly D1 and D2 and are no different from the virus types circulating in recent years.

Forecast of dengue fever situation in the coming time: Vietnam is in the Southeast Asia region, in which many countries are currently recording high numbers of cases and deaths in 2023.

The number of cases in Vietnam has increased since week 26 (June) until now, similar to the increase in dengue fever cases over the past years.

The current increase in dengue fever is due to favorable weather conditions for disease-carrying mosquitoes to develop, especially in the Northern region, where the weather is hot and humid in the summer, alternating sunshine and rain, creating favorable conditions for larvae and disease-carrying mosquitoes to develop. Rapid urbanization and travel between regions increase the risk of spreading and make it difficult to manage and control disease transmission sources. The environment at construction sites, factories, businesses, motels, and camps is not treated properly, leading to the emergence of larvae (wigglers) of disease-carrying mosquitoes;

The initiative and coordination of people and departments, sectors and organizations in dengue fever prevention in some localities is not high.

Additionally, according to the World Health Organization, in 2023 and 2024 climate change and El Nino could boost mosquito breeding, increasing the transmission of dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases.

It is forecasted that in the coming time, due to the peak of the rainy season, the number of infections will continue to have complicated developments and tend to increase if drastic measures are not taken to prevent the epidemic, especially activities to kill mosquitoes, larvae, and pupae in localities.

To proactively implement epidemic prevention measures, not to let the epidemic break out, spread widely, and prolong, on August 29, the Ministry of Health sent Official Dispatch No. 5480/BYT-DP requesting the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to pay attention to and direct the implementation of dengue fever prevention and control in the area, specifically as follows:

Continue to direct localities to resolutely implement epidemic prevention and control measures according to documents of the Ministry of Health sent to the People's Committees of provinces and cities, including: Official Dispatch No. 1453/BYT-DP dated March 17, 2023 on proactively and actively preventing and controlling dengue fever; Official Dispatch No. 3463/BYT-DP dated June 5, 2023 on strengthening the prevention and control of hand, foot and mouth disease; Official Dispatch No. 5103/BYT-DP dated August 12, 2023 on proactively implementing epidemic prevention and control.

Propose that the People's Committees of provinces and cities strengthen the direction of preventive medical facilities to ensure sufficient demand for chemicals, biological products, supplies, and equipment for disease prevention and control in the area, especially chemicals for preventing dengue fever, hand, foot, and mouth disease, and chemical sprayers to thoroughly and effectively handle outbreaks in the area. Currently, chemicals, insecticides, and disinfectants used in the household and medical sectors on the market meet the needs for disease prevention and control.

Focus on directing medical examination and treatment facilities, including public and non-public medical examination and treatment facilities, to ensure the availability of equipment, drugs, especially high molecular infusion solutions to serve the treatment and emergency care of dengue fever patients in order to minimize deaths.

For infusion Dextran is a high molecular solution, used in the treatment of shock in patients with severe dengue fever.

The Drug Administration of Vietnam has granted permission for the import of Dextran infusion without a circulation registration certificate as prescribed in Article 68 of Decree No. 54/2017/ND-CP to meet the special treatment needs of medical examination and treatment facilities with a total quantity of 17,010 bags granted for import.

According to the importer's report, up to now, the actual quantity of imported drugs is 12,550 bags, of which the quantity of drugs supplied to hospitals is 5,118 bags and the quantity of drugs remaining in the importer's warehouse is 7,432 bags.

Thus, the Vietnamese market now has a source of supply for Dextran infusion. The key factor determining the supply of the drug is that the units proactively place orders in advance with importing enterprises.

Source