HCM CITY — The Ministry of Health is inspecting the preventive efforts in place against dengue fever in 16 provinces and cities where the disease is seeing an upward trend.

According to Đặng Quang Tấn, deputy head of the ministry’s General Department of Preventive Medicine, the incidence of dengue in these provinces and cities has increased in the last three weeks.

In Hà Nội, for instance, the number of cases doubled to 26 on July 23-29 from a week earlier.

Bình Phước Province has reported 1,055 cases this year, an increase of 27 per cent.   

According to Nguyễn Văn Dũng, deputy head of the province’s Preventive Health Centre, the average temperature of 25-30 degrees Celsius there is ideal for mosquitoes, the disease vector, to breed.

Moreover, locals have a habit of using clay pots and plastic barrels to store water, but often not covering or cleaning them, leading to mosquitoes laying eggs in them.

So far this year nearly 35,000 people in the country have been infected with dengue, with one each dying in HCM City and the eight provinces of Khánh Hòa, Bình Dương, Bình Phước, An Giang, Đồng Nai, Bình Định, Trà Vinh, and Cà Mau. 

The ministry has provided insecticides and other materials required to combat the disease to all provinces and cities, especially the 16 where its incidence is increasing.

It has also called on local administrations to strengthen preventive efforts and encourage people to practise hygiene and destroy mosquito larvae regularly.

The preventive medicine department has warned that the only way is to kill mosquitoes and larvae to prevent mosquitoes from biting people since there is no cure for dengue or vaccine.

The ministry has instructed local preventive health officials to keep an eye out to detect signs of outbreaks early.

Hospitals that admit dengue patients should report to preventive health centres so that they can take the initiative to monitor patients’ communities.

Tấn said people with high fever during the day should go to the nearest health facility for timely treatment.

Dengue is a viral disease transmitted by female mosquitoes, mainly of the species Aedes aegypti and, to a lesser extent, Ae. albopictus.

This mosquito also transmits chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika.

Dengue is widespread throughout the tropics, with local variations in risk influenced by rainfall, temperatures and unplanned rapid urbanisation.

In Việt Nam, unlike in the past dengue occurs throughout the year, with large outbreaks occurring during the rainy season. —VNS