Dak Lak: Dengue fever patients surge in rainy season

A medical staff are spraying chemicals killing mosquitoes. The number of people catching dengue fever sharply increased in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak in the past month. (Source: VNA)

Dak Lak (VNA) – The number of people catching dengue fever sharply increased in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak in the rainy season, according to the province’s Preventive Medical Centre.

Figures from the centre showed in the past six months, the entire province had 1,268 dengue fever patients, a four-fold increase against the same period last year. Of which, 700 are new cases discovered in the first month of the rainy season (from May to June).

Dengue fever cases spread to 13 out of 15 districts, towns and cities in the province with Ea H’leo, Buon Don and Buon Ma Thuot city having the most patients.

A dengue fever patient named Hoang Thi Nguyet, 40, in hamlet 3, Hoa Thuan commune, Buon Ma Thuot city, died on June 30.

Nguyet got fever on June 26 and was treated at a private medical facility close to her home before being taken to Dak Lak General Hospital where she died.

The centre sent Nguyet’s blood samples to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology’s office in the Central Highlands for tests and results showed she died of dengue fever.

Doctor Pham Van Lao, Director of the province’s Preventive Medical Centre, said the main reason behind the rapid rise of dengue fever patients is due to people’s tendency to store water in the rainy season which provides optimal conditions for the development of mosquito larvae.

Another reason worsening the situation is the poor implementation of public communications campaigns in the localities.

Dak Lak’s medical sector is spraying larvae-killing chemicals in populous areas and has sent medical staff to monitor and technically assist localities in the fight against dengue fever.-VNA