Nearly 5,000 new dengue cases in HN

Dengue fever patients being treated at Hà Nội-based Bạch Mai Hospital. - VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

The sixth patient, who reportedly died of dengue fever on Wednesday night at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, was a 56-year-old woman from Thanh Xuân District. She was hospitalised five days earlier with cardiac arrest and multi-organ failure.

The five other fatalities were from the capital’s Hoàng Mai, Đống Đa, Ba Đình and Hà Đông districts. Data from the city’s Centre for Preventive Medicine show that 90 per cent of dengue patients live in the districts of Hoàng Mai, Đống Đa, Thanh Xuân, Hà Đông, Cầu Giấy, Hai Bà Trưng, Thanh Trì, Thanh Oai, Thường Tín, and Hoài Đức.

Dengue fever generally mimics flu symptoms and goes away within a week, but some cases can be more serious and require hospitalisation.

The rapid increase in the number of dengue fever patients has pushed hospitals into overload, including the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Bạch Mai Hospital, Thanh Nhàn Hospital and Đống Đa Hospital.

The National Hospital for Tropical Diseases on Wednesday had to use its meeting room to set up 20 beds for patients. that morning 500 people arrived at the hospital for dengue-fever examinations.

The hospital has a hotline number - 0969241616 - to receive questions related to dengue fever.

Hà Nội yet to declare dengue fever outbreak

In response to the question of why the city has yet to declare a dengue fever outbreak, Hoàng Đức Hạnh, deputy director of the city’s Health Department, said the aim of declaring an outbreak is to issue information on the disease to the public and obtain funding to control it.

Currently, although Hà Nội has not declared an outbreak, all the information has been passed on to residents through the mass media, Hạnh said. Additionally, the city has spent VNĐ20 billion (US$880,000) so far in an attempt to bring the situation under control.

“We are still carefully considering the situation before making a decision of declaring a dengue fever outbreak,” he said.

The Ministry of Health reports that over 82,000 people have contracted dengue fever around the country this year, with 23 fatalities.