Kien Giang: Dengue fever gathers speed in island districts
Mosquito-borne dengue fever is developing in a complex fashion in Phu Quoc and Kien Hai island districts in southern Kien Giang province as the rainy weather is favouring the growth of mosquitoes.
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Doctor Nguyen Minh Luong, who heads the disease control section of the Phu Quoc Health Centre, warned that the disease is now found more in adults than in children and developing complicatedly as the rainy season peaked and local people remained inactive in taking preventive measures.
The Centre’s health workers discovered that the population of mosquitoes in Ganh Dau and Chuong Vich hamlets in Ganh Dau commune was twice the permissible level, which could lead to a further rise in the number of dengue fever sufferers in the absence of prompt preventive measures.
Recognising the risks, Phu Quoc Health Centre teams went to hamlets and inspected their prevention efforts. They step up measures on sanitation and environment, and boost communications campaigns to raise people’s awareness on disease prevention.
In Kien Hai island district, health workers deal with 60 cases over the past eight months while they treated only 11 patients in 2015.
Doctor Le Thi Ngoc, Vice Director of the Kien Hai Health Centre, said the centre staff visited locals’ houses to guide them in spraying chemicals killing mosquito and mosquito larvae and timely manage suspected infections.
A conference in Binh Thuan province on August 26 reported 14,153 cases of dengue fever detected across the country so far this year, a five-fold increase from 2015.
In August, the Ministry of Health has established eight inspection teams to supervise and assist dengue-fever prevention activities in 18 localities suffering the most from dengue fever throughout the country.
The move responded to a decision recently signed by Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long after many new cases of dengue fever have been reported in localities including Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum, An Giang, Dong Thap, Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh and HCM City.
The ministry says currently, there is no vaccine to protect people against dengue fever.
