Vietnam Southern Region at High Risk of Dengue Fever Outbreak

Southern Vietnam is facing rising risk of an outbreak of the mosquito-borne dengue fever this year because of strong increases in infection cases and abnormal weather patterns in the early months of 2015, said the Ministry of Health. The ministry’s General Department of Preventive Medicine made the statement at a conference on the dengue fever situation in 2015 held in Ho Chi Minh City on April 14. The HCM City-based Pasteur Institute said the number of dengue fever cases recorded in the city in late 2014 and the early months of 2015 was above the incidence rate in the same period a year ago. Beside a constantly high rate of dengue virus in the city, the weather has featured some abnormal patterns. In order to prevent the epidemic, the ministry asked localities to take drastic measures to control the causes of the disease and quarantine infections at industrial parks, schools and residential areas. Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long called on localities to train grassroots health personnel on the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Director of the General Department of Preventive Medicine Luong Ngoc Khue said the department will work with provincial hospitals to maintain the “hot line” against the disease at grassroots health centers. The department will maintain treatment readiness in central, provincial and district hospitals to prepare for complicated cases, Khue said. According to the department, dengue fever occurs mainly in southern and central provinces with 8,320 cases recorded in the first three months of the year in 40 provinces and cities, six of whom have died. (Nguoi Lao Dong - Laborer Apr 15, Vietnam News Apr 14)