HCM City hospitals overrun with dengue patients

[Shiloh]

Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2008/11/812850/

HCM City hospitals overrun with dengue patients
17:21' 10/11/2008 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge ? Dengue fever is breaking out in HCM City and southern provinces. Many hospitals in the city are overloaded with patients.

HCM City still takes the lead for the number of dengue fever patients, with more than 11,000 by the end of October. This figure is nearly equal to that of the whole of 2007.

In southern provinces, nearly 70% of dengue fever patients are children of less than 15 years old. Significantly, the number of patients under 12 months old is on the rise.

Patients from southern provinces are coming to HCM City for treatment, resulting in the serious overload of hospitals.

?Our province has a general hospital but I?m afraid that this hospital doesn?t have necessary, modern equipment and the doctors? capability is poorer than doctors in HCM City. Traffic is also very convenient so I took my child to HCM City for treatment,? said Nguyen Van Dung from Ben Tre province.

The health sector in the Mekong River Delta is strongly advocating preventive measures, including the spraying of mosquito repellents in densely-populated districts and waterlogged areas in communes.

(Source: TT&VH)

 

[Shiloh]

Re: HCM City hospitals overrun with dengue patients

Source: http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=44085

Out-of-season rise in dengue fever cases worries HCMC

Ho Chi Minh City doctors have reported an alarming increase in the number of dengue fever cases, up to three times the number of cases usually reported at this time of year.

Health workers are also reporting an increase in the number of adults falling victim to the mosquito -borne virus.

HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases Deputy Director Tran Tinh Hien said the hospital had admitted between 150 and 200 dengue fever patients.

?The hospital receives between 30 and 50 cases a day,? Hien said. ?Most patients come from District 2, District 7 and Tan Binh District.?

?The number of cases is double or sometimes triple the number we had at the same time last year,? he said.

Until October this year, the hospital, the city?s main facility for treating dengue patients, had admitted 9,600 dengue cases, 70 percent of which were adults.

Hien said patients of up to 50 year-olds had been admitted. Usually the maximum age for dengue patients was 25, he said.

?Many patients had thought they had just caught a cold that had gotten worse,? he said.

Hien warned patients against treating themselves with medicine from pharmacies, which could prove fatal.

The most extreme symptoms of dengue fever include hemorrhage, loss of consciousness, respiratory failure and abnormal liver, kidney and brain function. So far this year, five adult patients have died died from dengue fever after being hospitalized, he said.

Symptoms of dengue fever, a common disease in developing countries, include a high flu-like fever, skin rashes and severe pain in the head and limbs.

There is no vaccine to protect against dengue infection. The disease is transmitted by daytime-biting mosquitoes and international health organizations recommend people try to avoid being bitten by using insect repellant and wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants.

The increase in the number of cases has been blamed on this year?s extended rainy season, which usually ends in late October and the increasingly polluted urban environment that has created ideal conditions for mosquitoes to breed.

Reported by Thanh Tung

 

[Shiloh]

Re: HCM City hospitals overrun with dengue patients

Source: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA291208

City sees rash of dengue fever cases after floods

(29-12-2008)

HCM CITY ? Dengue fever is rife in HCM City despite the city?s efforts to combat the mosquito-borne disease.

The Tropical Diseases Hospital and Children?s Hospitals 1 and 2 said they were seeing an influx of patients.

The former said it admitted 25-30 people with dengue every day, adding the figure soared to 150 last Friday.

Children?s Hospitals 1 and 2 are admitting 20-30 patients daily.

Phan Van Nghiem of the municipal Department of Health said the outbreaks had been unusually severe this year because of flooding and unseasonable rains.

Doctors at Children?s Hospital 1 said people should get themselves tested for dengue in case of symptoms like high fever, rashes, and severe head and joint aches.

By the beginning of this month, 14,000 cases had been reported, a year-on-year increase of 35 per cent, according to the Preventive Health Centre.

In the last two weeks of November, the incidence doubled over last year in 153 wards, mostly in the outlying districts of Thu Duc, Binh Chanh, Tan Phu, Tan Binh, 6 and 8. ? VNS