Dengue fever has been spreading rapidly in Ho Chi Minh City in the last one month with 33 reported cases from Hiep Phuoc Commune in Nha Be District of the City.
According to Nguyen Thanh Truong from the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases, the hospital has seen two to three persons hospitalized per day with suspected dengue fever, for the last two weeks.
Most of the patients have tested positive for Plasmodium Vivax, an unharmful parasite in which patients can recover within three days of treatment.
However, recovered patients are still vulnerable to dengue fever infection if parasite infested mosquitoes are allowed to flourish in the surroundings of their homes.
Nguyen Dac Tho, deputy director of Preventive Medicine Center says that most patients have contracted dengue fever from their own localities, while others catch it when travelling to other provinces.
More than 500,000 people are now susceptible to the disease in Can Gio, Binh Chanh, Nha Be and 7 and 8 districts, Tho said.
The southern regions of Vietnam have recorded 3,600 dengue fever cases in the first six months of 2011, an increase of 10 percent over the same period last year, said Luong Truong Son, deputy head of the city institute of infectious diseases.
Ho Chi Minh City department of health has neglected to take preventive measures to contain the spread of dengue fever. They have not even sprayed chemical repellents in residential areas where mosquitoes are rampantly breeding for the last five years.
