Medical staffs spray chemicals to kill mosquito. The HCM City Department of Health plans to set up six teams to check for mosquitoes and larvae in all city districts as part of its Zika prevention plan, as a pregnant woman has tested positive for the virus. — Photo giadinhvietnam.com

HCM CITY — The HCM City Department of Health plans to set up six teams to check for mosquitoes and larvae in all city districts as part of its Zika prevention plan, as a pregnant woman has tested positive for the virus.

The 33-year-old pregnant woman lives in  District 2’s Thạnh Mỹ Lợi Ward.

At the meeting with the department held yesterday, Dr Lê Hồng Nga of the city Preventive Health Centre said the city’s People’s Committee had announced that it would prepare for a possible outbreak.

Nga told health officials at districts to list all areas that have a high risk of mosquitoes, and to make plans for control and prevention.

Surveillance and communication about the disease’s risks to residents, especially pregnant women, should also be done, she added.

Thirty hospitals have been directed to carry out surveillance of the Zika virus.

The disease’ clinical symptoms such as fever and rash are similar to diseases such as rubella.

Doctors at the city’s hospitals with obstetrics wards have been trained to screen for microcephaly, and abnormal smallness of the head which is suspected to be caused by the disease.

Doctors of general hospitals also have been told to maintain surveillance of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, an uncommon ailment of the nervous system associated with the Zika infection.

Health clinics and hospitals should work with district health officials to provide counselling on the disease and methods of prevention.

“Everyone should take the initiative in destroying mosquitoes and larvae and carry out all preventive methods against mosquitoes and bites,” Nga said. — VNS