Risk of dengue fever outbreak

Number of cases increased

On May 8, at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Ninh Hoa Regional General Hospital, there were 10 cases of dengue fever being treated, including both adults and children. Ms. Pham Thi Trung (70 years old, Ninh Phung commune, Ninh Hoa town) said that she had a fever before, thinking it was a common cold so she bought medicine to take. However, after 4 days the disease did not improve but got worse so she went to Ninh Hoa Regional General Hospital for treatment. Here, Ms. Trung was diagnosed with dengue fever by the doctor. After 3 days of treatment, her health was stable, and she is expected to be discharged this week. In the same ward, Mr. Tran Van Luy (72 years old, Ms. Trung's husband) is also being treated for dengue fever. He got sick 2 days after Ms. Trung. After being actively treated by the medical team at the hospital, his health is now stable, no longer having a high fever like the previous days.

Health check for dengue fever patients at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Ninh Hoa Regional General Hospital.

Since the beginning of the year, Ninh Hoa Regional General Hospital has examined and treated more than 410 cases of dengue fever, including 16 severe cases, 69 warning cases, and 24 cases transferred to higher-level hospitals for further treatment. Specialist Doctor I Tran Le Giang - Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Ninh Hoa Regional General Hospital said: "In recent years, dengue fever has not only been recorded in children as before, but the number of cases in adults is also relatively high. Children and adults with the disease have dangerous complications if not treated promptly. In children, common complications are shock and bleeding; in adults, it is often accompanied by underlying diseases, which can easily lead to severe bleeding."

In the province, since the beginning of the year, more than 1,710 cases of dengue fever have been recorded, an increase of 115% over the same period last year, including 74 severe cases and 227 cases with warning signs; 83 outbreaks have been detected and handled. Localities with high numbers of cases include: Nha Trang 584 cases, Ninh Hoa 463 cases, Dien Khanh 289 cases and Cam Ranh 142 cases. According to the Provincial Center for Disease Control, the number of dengue fever cases in January and February is lower than the 5-year average, however, the number of cases in March and April increased and exceeded the 5-year average, which shows that the epidemic situation is complicated, with the risk of an outbreak in the coming time if there are no effective disease prevention measures.

Need cooperation to prevent disease

According to Dr. Ton That Toan - Deputy Director in charge of the Provincial Center for Disease Control, since the beginning of the year, the provincial health sector has implemented many drastic measures to prevent and control dengue fever such as: Monitoring, investigating cases, handling outbreaks, organizing periodic mosquito larvae extermination... Districts and towns have coordinated with the health sector and the Youth Union to implement environmental sanitation campaigns, spraying chemicals to kill mosquitoes at high-risk areas. However, the number of cases is still increasing, the main reason is the prolonged impact of the epidemic at the end of 2024 (more than 1,000 cases are recorded each month). Along with that, the handling of outbreaks in localities is not thorough, combined with the subjective mentality of the people, which is a factor that prolongs the epidemic. Many households have not yet seriously implemented mosquito larvae extermination; local epidemic prevention and control campaigns are not very effective, mainly stopping at propaganda. Communication work is still limited, people are not fully aware of the disease and preventive measures, still storing water in containers without covering them, creating favorable conditions for mosquitoes to breed. In addition, the software system for reporting infectious diseases is interrupted, hindering the updating and monitoring of epidemiology...

Medical staff from the Provincial Center for Disease Control check for mosquito larvae in a flower vase at a household in Cam Lam district.

In order to effectively prevent and control dengue fever in the coming time, the provincial health sector recommends that districts, towns, cities, communes and wards need to organize weekly mosquito larvae extermination in high-risk areas; step up communication, instruct people to implement preventive and control measures right at their households; early detection and thorough handling of outbreaks. At the same time, mobilize the coordination of inter-sectoral forces in disease prevention and control and promote the role of people in community supervision. In addition, there should be sanctions for officials and households who do not comply with disease prevention regulations. For people, it is necessary to join hands with all levels and sectors to raise awareness of disease prevention and control, proactively kill mosquitoes and larvae in their homes... Only then can the number of new cases be limited and the disease not spread widely.

C.DAN

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/xa-hoi/202505/nguy-co-bung-phat-dich-benh-sot-xuat-huyet-edd21b3/