Dengue fever incidence rises sharply in Hanoi

According to the city Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), they were reported in 26 out of the city’s 29 districts.

So far this year Hanoi has reported 608 cases, or double the number in the same period last year. There have been no deaths.

Thanh Nhan General Hospital in Hai Ba Trung District has been admitting around 10 patients a day and Dong Da General Hospital in Dong Da District, five to seven.

The CDC said the number of cases would continue to rise in the coming weeks since it is the rainy season in the north.

Since dengue is mosquito-borne, stagnant water during the rainy season in which mosquito larvae breed means the disease normally peaks then.

Experts from the CDC have warned people to closely monitor their health since influenza A and Covid-19 also currently pose threats in Hanoi.

The three diseases have several similar symptoms, and people should get themselves checked if they have fever of 39-40 degrees Celsius, severe headache, muscle pain, and eye socket pain.

In the case of dengue, the most dangerous period for a patient is after those symptoms have disappeared, doctors said.

Across the country, 92,000 cases have been reported this year, with 36 people dying, according to the Ministry of Health.

Most of the patients have been in the south, where the rainy season began in late April.

Vietnam has been trying to find an effective way to tackle dengue, one of the biggest killers among the 28 common infectious diseases affecting its populace.

The only vaccine for it available globally is not recommended for people who have not had dengue before.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in January the incidence of dengue has grown dramatically around the world in recent decades and that a vast majority of cases are asymptomatic or mild and self-managed, and hence, the actual numbers of dengue cases are under-reported.

The number reported to WHO increased over tenfold in the two decades between 2000 and 2019 to 5.2 million.

The number of deaths quadrupled between 2000 and 2015 to 4,032, with mostly people in younger age groups falling victim.