A child with dengue fever being treated in a HCM City hospital. November is the city’s peak season for the disease. (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Thenumber of dengue fever cases in Ho Chi Minh City shot up by 125 percent inOctober compared to a year earlier and could rise further this month, the peakseason, the Preventive Health Centre has warned.
Data showed that the city's hospitals admitted 4,390 people with thedisease last month.
Dr Le Hong Nga, head of the centre’s contagiousdiseases control division, said dengue has occurred in all 24 districts,especially outlying ones which are urbanising now and have many constructionworks in progress.
She was speaking at a programme organised by SaiGon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper on November9 in which doctors provided counselling to its readers.
Besides, the outlying districts are crowded withmigrant workers and environment hygiene there is poor, she said.
People here have habits such as storing water incontainers, which are also conducive for the spread of the disease, she said.
Also reporting on the disease, the HCM CityHospital for Tropical Diseases said the number of patients with dengue feverlast month, 1,581, was 1.4 times the number in September.
The Thu Duc District Regional General Hospitalhas treated 351 people with dengue since October 15, 2.3 times the numbermonth-on-month.
Of them, 70 percent were more than 18 years old,a clear indication that, unlike in the past, when the disease mostly affectedchildren, now adults too are susceptible.
The local Preventive Health Centre said Thu Ducis one of eight districts considered hot spots and having the highest number ofdengue cases in the city.
So far this year the district has had 1,006cases, 30 percent up higher than in the same period last year.
The disease often breaks out in wards with a highpopulation density near industrial parks, universities and tardy constructionworks like Linh Trung, Binh Chieu and Hiep Binh Phuoc.
Nga said every single family should take theinitiative to keep out mosquitoes and kill larvae.
The city’s Department of Health is determininghigh-risk areas for the disease and keeping them under surveillance.
Dr Nguyen Huu Hung, the department’s deputyhead, said authorities in several districts have yet to fine people andorganisations’ in whose properties they find mosquito larvae, and thisexacerbates the outbreak risk.
As of last month, authorities around the cityhad slapped fines in 206 cases.
The HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases andmany other medical facilities are allowing dengue patients to be treated athome to avoid overcrowding.
Nga warned that these patients should takeproper preventive methods to ensure they do not transmit the disease to otherpeople in their house.-VNS/VNA
VNA
