Dengue fever outbreak in Nghe An, 135 people infected

(Baonghean) - Nghe An currently has 135 people infected with dengue fever, the disease has been present in 10/21 districts, cities and towns in the province. Authorities are making efforts to contain the epidemic while people in the epidemic area are still subjective...

Entering the "epicenter" of Dien Chau

These days, the fight against dengue fever in the coastal communes of Dien Chau has become urgent. The epicenter of the epidemic is in the coastal communes, with narrow village roads and alleys, densely populated areas, and many old customs that pollute the environment.

Spraying chemicals to kill mosquitoes to prevent dengue fever in Dien Thinh commune (Dien Chau). Photo: TS

Dien Ngoc is a coastal commune of Dien Chau district, with 3,220 households and 14,977 people. For many years, Dien Ngoc has been a key commune for dengue fever. The first case of dengue fever was detected in the commune on July 10. And after 1 month, the number of people infected with the disease has reached 75, 7/12 hamlets have people infected. Since the beginning of the epidemic season, almost every day in Dien Ngoc commune, there have been new cases, with the peak being up to 13 cases per day.

During the field monitoring at the end of July, leaders of Nghe An Health Department criticized and requested the commune to strengthen communication, mobilize all forces to participate in environmental sanitation, destroy mosquito larvae nests, to prevent and fight the epidemic. After this monitoring, by early August 2017, Dien Ngoc Commune authorities mobilized all forces of the commune to coordinate with health officials and the provincial Border Guard to prevent and fight the epidemic. The commune established interdisciplinary working groups including commune officials, district health centers, and hamlet officials to go to each house to propagate to people about the epidemic, guide and work with people to clean the environment, destroy mosquito larvae nests.

Doctor Nguyen Trong Tan - Deputy Director of Dien Chau District Medical Center - Assigned to monitor and support the treatment of dengue fever in Dien Ngoc Commune, said: On the afternoon of August 8, working groups went to propagate and mobilize 325 households in Yen Thinh Hamlet and 144 households in Ngoc Tan Hamlet. And on the morning of August 9, staff of the District Medical Center continued to visit each household in these two hamlets to spray insecticide to kill adult mosquitoes. By the end of August 9, 10/12 hamlets in Dien Ngoc Commune had been sprayed with insecticide to kill mosquitoes.

Together with the health sector, Dien Chau district is mobilizing all its forces to control and suppress the epidemic. Doctor Cao Dinh Minh - Director of the district's health center said that up to now, the dengue fever outbreak in Dien Thinh commune has been suppressed, 19 infected people have been cured; 5 infected cases in Dien Bich commune have recovered, 4 are cured, 1 is still being treated, no new cases have been detected. Dien Phong, Dien Thanh, Dien Ky communes are mobilizing social contributions from people to buy mosquito spraying to fight the epidemic.

Risk of widespread outbreak

The provincial Center for Preventive Medicine said that dengue fever began to appear in Nghe An province (in Dien Chau district) with the first 3 cases on June 28. As of August 9, the whole province had 135 cases, with no deaths. The number of infected patients was present in 10/21 districts, cities and towns in the province, including: Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Hung Nguyen, Nghi Loc, Que Phong, Quy Hop, Nghia Dan, Yen Thanh, Hoang Mai town and Vinh city. Of which, Dien Chau had the largest number of cases with 106 people.

In addition to Dien Chau district, the remaining 29 cases in the 9 districts, cities and towns mentioned above are all imported cases - people returning from epidemic areas or people from epidemic areas infecting people in the area. For example, 22 cases in Quynh Luu district are all from 10 major epidemic areas of the country (Da Nang, Binh Duong, Long An, Dong Thap, An Giang, Khanh Hoa, Dong Nai, Soc Trang, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi); 4 cases in Quy Hop district include 3 people from Hanoi, 1 person from Laos.

Environmental sanitation prevents mosquitoes from laying eggs. Photo: TS

At the Tropical Diseases Department, Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, two children with dengue fever are being treated: Cao Duc Manh, 15 years old, from Doi Cung ward, Vinh city, who contracted the disease after returning from a trip to Hanoi, and Chu Tue Nhi, 2 years old, from Hung Hoa commune, Vinh city, who contracted the disease from an uncle who came to visit from Hanoi for 3 days. Hung Hoa commune is at risk of spreading the disease due to many different characteristics.

In fact, not only in Dien Chau or Vinh City, but in all 10 districts, cities and towns, the risk of the epidemic spreading is very high. When the source of the disease appears in an area with unsanitary conditions, the place is very likely to become an epidemic hotbed.

Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh - Director of the Provincial Center for Preventive Medicine said: To control and suppress outbreaks, the Department of Health and the center have requested district-level medical units to implement the proposed plan measures. Specifically, strengthen disease surveillance; strengthen disease communication; organize on-site treatment well (avoid patient movement); handle outbreaks by collecting waste, destroying mosquito larvae, spraying chemicals to kill mosquitoes; mobilize socialization in disease prevention and control; organize monitoring and support teams from the province to the district, district to commune.... On August 3, the Center continued to organize quick training for units on handling outbreaks and treatment procedures. The Center has fully supported the districts with human resources, machinery, and chemicals to promptly respond to and suppress outbreaks.

According to Dr. Dinh: In theory, after cleaning the environment and spraying pesticides, the number of cases will decrease. However, in Nghe An, the number of cases is still increasing because the authorities of some communes have not paid attention to giving strong instructions, and people are still subjective about the disease and have not thoroughly treated the larvae. In addition, there are some objective factors such as the epidemic occurring in residential areas built according to urban architecture, so spraying pesticides is quite difficult; the situation of foreign cases coming to the area causing the epidemic.

The interdisciplinary inspection team inspected locations that are prone to mosquito breeding and instructed people on hygiene and disease prevention methods. Photo: TS

Nghe An has not yet entered the dengue fever epidemic season (the epidemic season usually occurs in September every year). Therefore, the risk of an outbreak is very high. The Provincial Center for Preventive Medicine recommends that people need to raise awareness of disease prevention and control. Every family needs to do a good job of environmental sanitation. If a family has someone with imported dengue fever, the patient needs to be kept under a mosquito net (during treatment) and isolated from family members. Local authorities, especially communes, wards and towns, must actively participate, together with people, in preventing and controlling dengue fever effectively.

Thanh Son