There is a risk of widespread dengue fever outbreak in Vietnam in the time ahead if no prompt actions are taken, said Dr. Phan Trong Lan, head of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Pasteur Institute.

Lan told a communication training course in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre on August 18-19 that this year's rainy season comes earlier than the previous years in the Central Highlands. Meanwhile, droves of disease-carrying mosquitoes have yet to be completely destroyed, resulting in a dengue fever outbreak in the region, he said.
He added that the disease often reaches its peak between September and November. The southern provinces of Binh Phuoc and Ben Tre, and Lam Dong province in the Central Highlands are "hot spots" of dengue fever this year. Ben Tre province alone has recorded more than 1,400 dengue cases so far this year, including one death, representing a three-fold increase against the same period last year.

Dengue fever incidence spirals in Khanh Hoa

The southern central province of Khanh Hoa has recorded 3,430 dengue fever cases since the outset of 2016, shooting up 132 percent from a year earlier.One person died of the mosquito-borne disease during the period, according to the province's preventive medicine centre.

The number of new dengue fever patients declined between January and June, compared to the peak last December, but rebounded after that with 154 cases in July and another 200 this month.If drastic solutions are not taken, the figure will continue to rise in the next two months, and the disease will become an epidemic in November or December, the centre said.It attributed the spread to unproductive prevention activities and the rainy season - a favourable condition for mosquitoes to develop. Phase I of a mosquito larva elimination campaign was launched in Khanh Hoa in June and July, and the next phase will be held in September, the centre noted.

A delegation from the Ministry of Health inspected the dengue fever prevention measures in Khanh Hoa on August 22.

Authorities of the southern central province of Binh Thuan have been urged to intensify public awareness campaigns on dengue prevention, especially in mountainous areas, as cases of infection are rising.

In his tour to inspect disease prevention work in the locality on August 23, Director of the National Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute Dang Duc Anh said many local residents are not active in taking prevention measures. The inspection team detected large numbers of mosquitos and larvae at houses in Phong Nam Commune, Phan Thiet City.The director also asked the local authorities to keep close watch on the disease development in high risk areas, and pay attention to preparing human resources, medicines and equipment to minimise fatalities.

Binh Thuan is one of the localities recording high numbers of dengue fever, with 1,187 cases so far this year, up 2.3 times year-on-year. Most of the cases were in the districts of Ham Thuan Bac, Duc Linh, Phan Thiet and Bac Binh.Ham Thuan Bac district has the highest number of infections, with 366 cases, accounting for 31 percent of the number of infections in the locality, said the local health sector.

To cope with the situation, the provincial Preventative Medicine Centre launched campaigns to kill mosquitoes and larvae in all the districts.However, the health sector meets with difficulties in some areas where residents do not make their own efforts to clean up their houses. Some even refuse to cooperate when medical workers come to spray chemicals. Dengue fever is forecast to spread in the remaining months of the year as the rainy season has come.

The numbers of dengue cases and deaths in Vietnam have dropped since 1985, forecasting that the disease will reach a ten-year peak in 2018 when a new cycle of dengue fever begins.

Dr. Phan Trong Lan, head of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Pasteur Institute suggested localities tightly cover water containers to hinder mosquitoes from laying eggs and spray anti-mosquito chemicals to timely and thoroughly deal with dengue fever hotbeds, and provide intensive training for local medical workers, while raising public awareness of dengue fever by integrating disease prevention activities into new-style rural area building programmes and school curriculums.

The HCM City-based Pasteur Institute is studying a vaccine against dengue fever, which is expected to be used in Vietnam in September 2017.

Statistics from the Health Ministry's General Department of Preventive Medicine showed that the number of people that contracted dengue fever in the first six months of this year reached over 44,800, more than 2.5 times higher than the same period last year.