People remain indifferent and apathetic at the largest dengue fever outbreak in the province.

Risk of outbreak

On the afternoon of September 15, following the staff of Anh Son District Medical Center, Nghe An Newspaper reporters were present at Dinh Thang village, Dinh Son commune and witnessed the epidemic prevention activities.dengue feverhere. On the morning of September 15, in Dinh Thang village, 3 cases of dengue fever were discovered, all 3 were people in the same family, bringing the total number of cases in the village to 6. After discovering the new case, members of the Steering Committee for Disease Prevention and Control of Dinh Son commune and staff of the commune Health Station went to the village, carried out the work of spraying chemicals to kill adult mosquitoes, washing mosquito nets with chemicals and propagating to people to clean the environment and destroy mosquito larvae nests.

Dinh Son commune has 9 villages, with more than 2,000 households and nearly 9,000 people. Up to now, 6/9 villages have had dengue fever cases, with 98 cases. The dengue fever epidemic began to appear in Dinh Son commune on October 3, 2020. Since then, dengue fever has become an endemic disease in this locality, with cases occurring every year. However, 2023 is the year Dinh Son has the strongest dengue fever outbreak.

Mr. Phan Van Hoi - Chairman of Dinh Son Commune People's Committee said: This year, the first 4 cases of dengue fever were discovered on July 30 in 2 villages Ha Nam and Bai Phu. Epidemiological investigation showed that all 4 cases had permanent residence in Dinh Son commune, there were no epidemiological factors and within 14 days the patients were only in the locality, did not go far, did not contact anyone returning from the dengue fever epidemic area. The Commune Steering Committee and health agencies determined that these were cases that appeared from the previous epidemic area.

After detecting dengue fever cases, Dinh Son commune has strengthened and supplemented the Steering Committee for Disease Prevention and Control; established and organized epidemic prevention working groups to direct dengue fever prevention and control work in villages; purchased chemicals to spray to kill adult mosquitoes, isolated and suppressed the epidemic in the epidemic areas of Ha Nam and Bai Phu villages; strengthened propaganda work on epidemic prevention and control, mobilized people to practice environmental sanitation, kill mosquito larvae, etc.

However, dengue fever continues to spread in the locality. At this time, Bai Phu village has 69 cases, Ha Nam village has 5 cases, Dinh Hop village has 3 cases, Dinh Cuong village has 2 cases, Dinh Thang village has 6 cases and Cay Chanh village has 13 cases; of the 98 cases, 76 have recovered and 22 are still being treated... What is worrying is that the dengue fever outbreak here shows no signs of stopping. In the past week, there have been 16 new cases, including 13 new cases in Cay Chanh village, a market area with a very high population density.

To cope with the "escalating" dengue fever situation, Dinh Son commune has launched a new campaign - a campaign to kill mosquito larvae and larvae in the whole commune on September 8, September 11 and September 6. This is the third time since July 30 that Dinh Son commune has launched this campaign... Mr. Phan Van Hoi shared: Working groups have gone to each household to guide people on disease prevention. People's awareness of disease prevention is also very good. However, due to the erratic weather, it has created favorable conditions for mosquitoes to develop. This is probably the main reason why the epidemic broke out and lasted.

Consciousness needs to be transformed into action.

To find out the level of epidemic prevention awareness of the people of Dinh Son commune, Nghe An Newspaper reporters and officials of Anh Son District Health Center directly surveyed households in Group 14, Dinh Thang village. The survey results were very surprising, many households had many buckets and basins containing stagnant water. In these buckets and basins, there were many larvae and wrigglers that had, were, and were about to hatch into mosquitoes... Officials of Anh Son District Health Center directly called people in the households to point out each nest of larvae and wrigglers and asked them to turn the buckets and basins upside down and take measures to kill the larvae and wrigglers.

The survey results showed that: People's awareness of environmental sanitation in general and dengue fever prevention in particular is not high; there has not been a transformation from awareness to specific action. Propaganda measures and instructions for people to prevent dengue fever in Dinh Son commune have not met the requirements... The risk of dengue fever outbreak and further spread in Dinh Son is very high.

When investigating the epidemic prevention work in Dinh Son commune, Anh Son District Medical Center also discovered a state of indifference and apathy among many people who considered spraying chemicals, cleaning, and killing mosquito larvae to be the work of commune officials, village officials, departments, branches, and organizations. "I went to their houses to help clean the environment, but they just stood there and watched." - a Dinh Son commune official sadly said.

Ms. Phan Thi Anh Tuyet - Head of Dinh Son Commune Health Station shared her concerns: This year's dengue fever outbreak started early and spread widely (usually the epidemic will appear from October every year). In the coming time, the weather will be rainy and humid, which is the ideal condition for mosquitoes to develop. The epidemic in Dinh Son is at risk of lasting longer and having more cases when the area is densely populated, the traffic is large, and environmental sanitation is poor. Up to now, the commune health station in particular and Dinh Son commune in general have implemented many measures, but clearly need to be more drastic to localize and prevent the epidemic.

Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporters after a survey on dengue fever prevention in the "epicenter", Dr. Nguyen Viet Dung - Deputy Director of Anh Son District Medical Center said: It is clear that the results of epidemic prevention and control in Dinh Son have not met requirements. The biggest reason is that people are still subjective, indifferent to epidemic prevention and control activities and have not taken appropriate actions.

Also to prevent dengue fever, when 2 new cases were detected in the area, the people of Anh Son town immediately took the initiative to clean the environment, kill mosquito larvae, before the local government launched the campaign. With that initiative, the outbreak in the town was surrounded and quickly contained. The lesson of epidemic prevention in Anh Son town shows that people's awareness is a prerequisite to ensure the success of epidemic prevention work.

Reality requires the Anh Son Health Department and Dinh Son Commune to have stronger solutions, and to consider the current dengue fever prevention work similar to the previous Covid-19 epidemic prevention work. When going to each household to conduct propaganda and guidance, it is also necessary to require households to personally carry out environmental sanitation. It is necessary to specifically name households that have not paid attention to environmental sanitation and mosquito larvae eradication.

In the content of propaganda to prevent dengue fever, it is necessary to clearly state the key message: "No mosquito larvae, no dengue fever". Spraying chemicals and impregnating mosquito nets with chemicals is a necessary and sufficient condition to do a good job of environmental sanitation and killing mosquito larvae. Doctor Nguyen Viet Dung also added: Anh Son District Medical Center will report specifically to Anh Son District People's Committee and continue to have appropriate advice for the District People's Committee to direct the implementation of dengue fever prevention and control work in the area effectively./.