After five days of treatment at Children's Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City, the Cambodian child with dengue fever who was at the potential death phase gradually recovered. The child is expected to be discharged from the hospital in the next few days.
HCMC-located Children's Hospital 2 yesterday said that it had just saved the life of a 4 year old Cambodian toddler who is living in the border area of Vietnam’s Binh Phuoc Province.
The patient was admitted to the hospital’s Emergency Department with respiratory failure, prolonged shock, multi-organ failure, severe liver and kidney damage and blood loss. Doctors found it hard to measure the child’s blood pressure. Immediately, the patient was given mechanical ventilation, anti-shock with electrolyte solutions, polymers, transfusion of blood products, and vasoactive and cardiac drugs.
After 24 hours of intensive resuscitation, the child’s hemodynamic status was still unstable. The patient received abdominal decompression, continuous dialysis and liver preservation treatment. Luckily, after five days of hospitalization, the patient no longer had bleeding, hemodynamics gradually improved, and liver and kidney function gradually recovered.
Currently, the baby has no longer undergone dialysis and a ventilator. The child was moved out of the intensive care unit and would be discharged from the hospital a few days later.
The patient's mother said that the family was very touched because Vietnamese doctors have made efforts to save her child; plus, their family received support from philanthropists through the Social Work Department.
Before that, the toddler had a high fever for two consecutive days, but local treatment did not reduce it. On the third day, the child was very tired vomiting blood, and lethargic, so his family took their child across the border to a private clinic in Binh Phuoc Province for examination. The child tested with positive results for dengue fever.
Although communication was limited due to a different language, the family quickly decided to transfer the child to Children's Hospital 2 for further treatment because of their trust in the hospital's quality when they realized their child’s poor condition.
According to Doctor Do Chau Viet, Head of the Children Hospital 2’s Infectious Disease and Covid-19 Intensive Care Department, dengue fever is an infectious disease caused by the dengue virus through the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. The disease can occur all year round and in all ages. Children, in particular, are susceptible to severe disease and can die if they are not treated promptly.
Medical workers said that although the rainy season has not yet arrived, in the past two weeks the Infectious Disease and Covid-19 Intensive Care Department has received cases of severe dengue fever from neighboring provinces.
Dr. Do Chau Viet said that when a child's fever does not subside for more than 24 hours, parents need to take the child to the doctor to determine the illness. In particular, parents must take their children to the nearest medical clinics if the child experiences dangerous symptoms such as frequent vomiting, bleeding from the skin and mucous membranes, abdominal pain, lethargy, infrequent urination, and cold hands and feet.
Medical workers advised people to empty and wash out containers with stagnant and contaminated water where mosquitoes lay eggs weekly to protect their children from getting dengue. Moreover, they should use insect repellent and dress their child in long sleeves, long pants and socks, to minimize exposed skin as well as control mosquitoes inside and outside the home.
