The city has recorded 10,550 patients with dengue fever since the beginning of this year. Ten cases have been fatal, compared to two during the same period last year.

From November 3-9, the number of dengue fever patients increased to 294. In the previous week, October 27 to November 2, the number was 261.

In previous years, this is a time when the number of patients with the disease decreased, but this year it was heading in the opposite direction, Pham Viet Thanh, head of the HCM City Health Department, told the Giao Duc (Education) newspaper.

Districts 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, Tan Binh, Binh Thanh, Thu Duc and Binh Chanh have all recorded a high number of patients with the disease this year.

Paediatric Hospital No1 has been admitting 60 children with dengue fever each day on average for the last week, with two-thirds of the children from the city.

Thanh said the department had set up 25 teams of inspectors to visit all the districts and check on measures to prevent and control outbreaks of fever dengue and the hand-foot- mouth disease (HFMD).

The inspectors found that many companies, schools and households had not taken steps to have areas with mosquito larvae sprayed with chemicals to kill them. Since the disease is transmitted by mosquitoes, it is inevitable that the number of dengue fever patients will rise.

Thanh said it was important that local authorities co-operate with residents to destroy mosquito larvae.

His department continues to work with the Department of Education and Training to try and control dengue fever outbreaks at schools, especially kindergartens and primary schools.

Nationwide trend

The number of patients with the mosquito-borne disease has also been increasing in other localities nationwide, including Ca Mau, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Bac Lieu, Ha Noi and Binh Thuan.

The National Hospital of Tropical Diseases has admitted 60 patients with dengue fever in the first two weeks of November, most of them in Ha Noi.

As of November 7, 49,011 cases of dengue fever have been recorded nationwide, with 46 deaths, according to the Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News