The number of dengue fever patients has soared abnormally fast in southern provinces though the disease often peaks in the rainy season.
The number of dengue fever patients has soared abnormally fast in southern provinces though the disease often peaks in the rainy season.
Phan Trong Lan, head of the Pasteur Institute in HCMC, said the number of dengue fever cases has increased since the final months of last year, mainly in Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces and HCMC, despite a low season for the disease.
In February alone, the country had over 3,600 dengue fever cases and three of them in the southern provinces of Dong Nai and Long An died of the disease.
Nguyen Minh Tien, head of the emergency department at HCMC Children Hospital No. 1, told the Daily that the department had saved a dengue fever patient in Duc Hoa District, Long An Province after a week of treatment. The seven-year-old boy was hospitalized in critical condition with high fever and respiratory and liver failures.
Tien warned that the dengue fever season has started with many hospitalized cases, and advised parents to take their children to hospitals for checkups and treatment as soon as possible when they see symptoms of the disease.
Statistics of the Preventive Medicine Department showed that hospitals and clinics in 38 provinces and cities have had 5,200 dengue fever cases in the year to date, up 27% year-on-year. There are three deaths, or two more than in the same period last year.
The department under the Ministry of Health said the number of dengue fever patients is on the rise in the southern region. As vaccines for dengue virus and special medicines for the disease are not available, the best preventive way is to kill mosquitoes by cleaning up reservoirs and homes.
(Source: SGT)
