People in dengue fever epidemic areas are still subjective

The garden of a family in Lang Xuyen village, Gia Tan commune (Gia Loc) is overgrown with trees and littered with garbage, an ideal environment for mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever to live, reproduce, and develop.

Lack of initiative, not decisive

On August 31, a dengue fever outbreak occurred in Gia Tan Commune (Gia Loc) in Lang Xuyen Village. Nearly 50 days have passed, and the outbreak has not ended. According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Chi Phuong, Head of Gia Tan Commune Health Station, since the outbreak, environmental sanitation has received more attention from the people. The commune has actively promoted and mobilized.

Hai Duong Newspaper reporters went to Lang Xuyen village to find out the reality. The village roads and alleys here are quite clean by the people. Mrs. NTL (74 years old) - who recently contracted dengue fever - has paid more attention to environmental sanitation. However, the small garden in front of Mrs. L's house has flower beds and ornamental plant pots with quite high density. In one corner of the garden, there is still an upside-down plastic barrel. As long as it rains and the environment is humid, this garden can become a place for mosquitoes to breed and develop.

The reporter continued to visit a neighbor of Mrs. L. The house was cramped, the front yard was overgrown with trees and litter, but had not been trimmed or cleaned. On the left side of the house was an old bathroom, the interior was dark, damp and filled with old furniture. When the reporter disturbed it, he saw many mosquitoes flying out of the bathroom.

Recently, visiting a family with a dengue fever patient in Doan Ket village, Hong Phong commune (Nam Sach), the reporter was quite surprised to see that right next to the house's doorstep there was still a pile of dry branches and grass that had not been cleaned up. Some items in the garden that could contain water had not been collected and turned upside down as instructed.

Head of the Hong Phong Commune Health Station, Nguyen Thi Huong, said that there are still some people who do not care about environmental hygiene and are subjective about the epidemic. The locality has not yet organized a general cleaning campaign on a commune-wide scale to prevent dengue fever. Many families have excuses such as being busy working all day or having only elderly people and children at home, so they cannot participate.

According to the reporter's records, so far, only Chi Linh City has launched a general environmental sanitation campaign to prevent dengue fever throughout the city under the direction of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee. Most of the remaining localities have only been able to organize it in places where outbreaks have occurred. The epidemic prevention work has mainly focused on propaganda activities. The urging and supervision of villages, residential areas, and people to implement the recommendations of the health sector has been implemented but has not been proactive and drastic.

No subjectivity allowed

Dengue fever is breaking out and spreading rapidly in Hai Duong. New outbreaks are constantly appearing, with nearly 50 new cases recorded in one day. From January 1 to October 18, the whole province had 775 patients with dengue fever, an increase of 314 cases compared to 2022, of which about half of the cases were concentrated from mid-September until now. As of October 20, the whole province still had 22 outbreaks.

The number of dengue fever cases in Hai Duong recently has mainly been domestic. This shows that mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever are widely present in the community. The results of vector monitoring at many outbreaks show that the mosquito and larvae index exceeds the warning threshold. Therefore, new outbreaks and the number of new cases in Hai Duong are forecast to increase. "This epidemic is at its peak and may gradually decrease from November. This depends largely on the drastic participation of local authorities and the awareness of the people," said Mr. Hoang Van Huynh, Deputy Director of the Hai Duong Provincial Center for Disease Control.

From the beginning of the year to October 19, the country has had hundreds of thousands of patients with dengue fever, nearly 30 deaths. Hai Duong has not had any deaths from this disease. However, records at many medical facilities in the two provinces and districts show that the number of patients requiring hospitalization is increasing. Many severe patients require platelet transfusions, shock, multiple pleural effusions (lungs, abdomen), poor health, long treatment times and unpredictable risks.

Doctor Hoang Thach Quyen, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Hai Duong General Hospital, warned: People must not be subjective about this disease. Pregnant women, children under 2 years old, obese people, and people with chronic diseases must be especially careful because the disease often progresses quickly and is dangerous. Medical facilities have plans to admit and treat patients with dengue fever, but if the number of new cases increases rapidly, it will cause overload, putting pressure on the hospital and endangering people.