The Health Ministry’s Department of Preventive Medicine on August 1 warned citizens to apply drastic measures to prevent dengue fever spreading, after a person reportedly died of the disease in Ho Chi Minh recently.

The department stressed that the most effective way to fight the disease, for which there is no specific medicine or vaccine, is to kill mosquitoes and larvae and avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.

It advised people to clean their homes, properly dispose of waste and stow water receptacles away from where mosquitoes can breed.

Citizens should sleep in mosquito nets, wear long-sleeves and coordinate with local authorities in spraying chemicals to kill mosquitoes.

Those who show symptoms of dengue fever, including a sudden and high fever, forehead and eye pains, rashes, bleeding, feeling cold or vomiting, should seek medical support at health care facilities.

Dengue fever is an acute viral disease caused by the dengue virus, which is spread by two kinds of mosquitoes – Aedes Aegypti and Aedes Albopictus.

The disease is common in tropical countries. In Vietnam, peak season of the disease lasts from July to October. As the virus is divided into four types – D1, D2, D3 and D4, a person can be infected many times.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), every year, about 96 million people are infected by dengue fever, with 500,000 serious cases, and about 12,500 deaths.

Vietnam experienced a boom of dengue fever in 2017 when 181,054 got the disease and 30 deaths were reported nationwide, mostly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

VNA