A health worker takes care of a dengue patient at Hữu Nghị Hospital in Hà Nội. — Photo suckhoedoisong.vn

HÀ NỘI — Doctors are warning patients not to confuse COVID-19 with dengue fever, as symptoms for the two conditions can be similar.

Sufferers of dengue can develop persistent high fever for five to seven days, headaches, aches and pains throughout the whole body, lymphadenopathy, red skin rash, abdominal liver pains and nausea.

More serious symptoms include bleeding under the skin, nosebleeds or bleeding gums.

Nguyễn Thị Thanh Vân, head of Tropical Diseases Department under Hữu Nghị (Friendship) Hospital said that because some symptoms of dengue fever were difficult to distinguish with other virus-causing fevers, people should take dengue test as soon as they have a high fever or if returning from dengue-hit areas.

Vân said that effective preventive measures included environmental clean-up, cover all water containers, overturn all empty water containers and frequently change water in flower vases, remove waste bottles/grass/tires and puddle.

People should sleep inside mosquito nets and wear long sleeves and long trousers even during daytime.

Wet weather due to much rain at this time of the year created favourable conditions for mosquito to bear, grow and spread virus that cause dengue fever, the doctor emphasised.

According to Tropical Diseases Centre under Bạch Mai Hospital, since the beginning of this year, the centre received and treated hundreds of dengue fever cases, of which, pregnant women, people with underlying diseases like renal failure, heart failure and chronical lung disease were high risk.

Meanwhile, the very first dengue cases of the city this year were detected in suburban districts Hoài Đức, Đan Phượng, Thường Tín and now, already spread to inner districts of Nam Từ Liêm, Thanh Xuân and Hoàng Mai.

In Hà Nội, more than 1,400 dengue cases were reported this year, lower than last year, but there was one fatality.

The city’s Health Department continued asking grassroots healthcare services to strengthen preventive measures and treatment for dengue while still strictly ensure sufficient resources to respond to COVID-19.  VNS