Health staff sprays mosquito killer chemical in Distrct 3, Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: VNA) Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – Although the number of Zika virusinfection cases have dropped, the disease could break out on a large scale ifno preventive plan was implemented since the beginning of the year, said ahealth expert.
Associate Prof. Dr. Phan Trong Lan, Director of the Pasteur Institute inHo Chi Minh City, gave the warning at a conference held in the city on February16 to launch this year’s disease prevention tasks in the southern region.
Lan said Zika virus spreads rapidly via Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and is difficultto detect due to mild symptoms. Meanwhile the southern region sees strong humanflows in both arrivals and departures.
In 2016, Vietnam detected 227 Zika virus infection cases, of which 207are residents of Ho Chi Minh City.
Therefore, the expert warned that the number of Zika-infected casesacross the region would increase, and recommended each province set up at leasttwo Zika monitoring centres.
Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long requested southern provincesand cities to keep a close watch on Zika-related disease and dengue fever and takepreventative measures from now on to prevent outbreaks.
He also asked the localities to be vigilant on diseases that are likelyto enter Vietnam, such as H7N9, Mers-CoV and Ebola.
Noninfectious diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers anddiabetes, are also big threats, Long said, adding that they are responsible for60 percent of the disease-related death toll nationwide.-VNA
VNA
