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Source: http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=52152
Last Updated: Saturday, August 29, 2009 21:53:36 Vietnam (GMT+07)
Swine flu scare veils dengue nightmare
A dengue patient receives treatment at Ho Chi Minh City's Nhi Dong 1 Hospital
While H1N1 has become a household obsession, doctors say it is dengue fever that is doing the most damage as skyrocketing infection rates have led to overcrowding and other complications in major cities.
Earlier this week, the Hanoi Health Department reported that nearly 2,500 cases of the mosquito-borne illness had been recorded citywide since the beginning of the year, ten times more than over the same period last year.
The department said the figures were the worst in years.
?The number of dengue cases has gone up critically,? said National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases deputy director Nguyen Hong Ha, adding that the institute had admitted up to 45 dengue patients a day recently.
?Around 100 patients are receiving treatment at the institute right now ? we?re on overload,? he said. ?Patients have to share beds and we?ve even had to set up beds in the corridors. But that?s still not enough?we?re buying more beds.?
According to the doctor, most of the patients had come from inner-city districts like Hoang Mai, Thanh Xuan, and Dong Da.
He said that fact refuted the popular theory that the number of Hanoi dengue patients had gone up because the capital had absorbed parts of Hoa Binh and Vinh Phuc in 2008.
Complications in the south
Although the number of dengue cases recorded in Ho Chi Minh City hasn?t increased sharply this year, more patients have reached critical condition and there have been more deaths related to dengue, said Dr. Phan Van Nghiem from the city?s health department.
Over 7,100 cases have been recorded citywide since the beginning of the year, an increase of 5 percent compared the same period last year.
The city has already seen seven deaths due to dengue, according to the department.
Doctor Le Bich Lien, head of the Dengue Fever Department at Children Hospital No.1, said her facilities were treating around 80 kids for dengue, one-fourth of whom were in stages three and four with symptoms like circulatory failure, neurological problems and hemorrhaging.
?Around 20 to 25 children are admitted to the hospital with dengue fever every day,? said Dr. Lien. ?HCMC kids account for 70 percent of our child patients.?
Between 50 and 60 kids, mainly 3-10 years old, are receiving treatment for dengue HCMC Children Hospital No.2, said Dr. Tran Thi Thuy, deputy head of the hospital?s Infection Department.
?Around 10 percent of them are in phase 4, the most critical phrase, and experiencing physical shock,? Dr. Thuy said.
Thu Duc General Hospital has reported that some 20-30 dengue patients, mainly adults, were currently undergoing treatment there.
?During the first one to two days of infection, dengue in kids is difficult to be distinguished from hand-foot-mouth disease or H1N1 flu,? Lien said.
?As H1N1 flu manifests itself in complicated ways, many people have let their guard down against dengue fever. But dengue can be fatal for kids,? she warned.
Reported by Thanh Tung ? Lien Chau
Last Updated: Saturday, August 29, 2009 21:53:36 Vietnam (GMT+07)
Swine flu scare veils dengue nightmare
A dengue patient receives treatment at Ho Chi Minh City's Nhi Dong 1 Hospital
While H1N1 has become a household obsession, doctors say it is dengue fever that is doing the most damage as skyrocketing infection rates have led to overcrowding and other complications in major cities.
Earlier this week, the Hanoi Health Department reported that nearly 2,500 cases of the mosquito-borne illness had been recorded citywide since the beginning of the year, ten times more than over the same period last year.
The department said the figures were the worst in years.
?The number of dengue cases has gone up critically,? said National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases deputy director Nguyen Hong Ha, adding that the institute had admitted up to 45 dengue patients a day recently.
?Around 100 patients are receiving treatment at the institute right now ? we?re on overload,? he said. ?Patients have to share beds and we?ve even had to set up beds in the corridors. But that?s still not enough?we?re buying more beds.?
According to the doctor, most of the patients had come from inner-city districts like Hoang Mai, Thanh Xuan, and Dong Da.
He said that fact refuted the popular theory that the number of Hanoi dengue patients had gone up because the capital had absorbed parts of Hoa Binh and Vinh Phuc in 2008.
Complications in the south
Although the number of dengue cases recorded in Ho Chi Minh City hasn?t increased sharply this year, more patients have reached critical condition and there have been more deaths related to dengue, said Dr. Phan Van Nghiem from the city?s health department.
Over 7,100 cases have been recorded citywide since the beginning of the year, an increase of 5 percent compared the same period last year.
The city has already seen seven deaths due to dengue, according to the department.
Doctor Le Bich Lien, head of the Dengue Fever Department at Children Hospital No.1, said her facilities were treating around 80 kids for dengue, one-fourth of whom were in stages three and four with symptoms like circulatory failure, neurological problems and hemorrhaging.
?Around 20 to 25 children are admitted to the hospital with dengue fever every day,? said Dr. Lien. ?HCMC kids account for 70 percent of our child patients.?
Between 50 and 60 kids, mainly 3-10 years old, are receiving treatment for dengue HCMC Children Hospital No.2, said Dr. Tran Thi Thuy, deputy head of the hospital?s Infection Department.
?Around 10 percent of them are in phase 4, the most critical phrase, and experiencing physical shock,? Dr. Thuy said.
Thu Duc General Hospital has reported that some 20-30 dengue patients, mainly adults, were currently undergoing treatment there.
?During the first one to two days of infection, dengue in kids is difficult to be distinguished from hand-foot-mouth disease or H1N1 flu,? Lien said.
?As H1N1 flu manifests itself in complicated ways, many people have let their guard down against dengue fever. But dengue can be fatal for kids,? she warned.
Reported by Thanh Tung ? Lien Chau