VietNamNet Bridge – Up to 14,000 dengue cases were reported in the first five months of 2007 and bad news about this disease has been sent to the Health Ministry in recent days, said Director of the Preventive Health Agency under the Health Ministry Nguyen Huy Nga.

Dengue is developing very fast and in a complicated way. The numbers of dengue cases and deaths caused by dengue are both increasing. The number of deaths in the south in the first five months of the year rose by 20% compared to the corresponding period of 2006.

Since the beginning of 2007, the density of dengue-causing mosquitoes in the Mekong Delta and HCM City has been very high. Health experts said that the dengue epidemic in 2007 could be the strongest in the past several years.

According to Mr Nga, four types of dengue virus – D1, D2, D3 and D4 – have appeared concurrently. D2 is the most popular type of virus, found in 60% of dengue patients in Vietnam.

“This year, type D1 is developing strongly while the community is not immune to this type. The number of dengue patients and the number of deaths cause by this disease may be high this year,” said an official from the Health Ministry.

The Health Ministry’s statistics show that around 80,000 people have caught dengue annually in recent years. Since 1999, the Vietnamese government has added anti-dengue activities to the list of national health programmes, along with expanded vaccination, anti-malnutrition among children, anti-goiter and diseases caused by iodine deficiency, anti-tuberculosis, and anti-HIV/AIDS programmes. However, dengue may be struck from the list as of 2008.

To control the dengue epidemic, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien has gone to the Mekong Delta to launch a campaign to exterminate mosquitoes. Deputy Director of the Preventive Health Agency Nguyen Van Binh has also led a working group to the Mekong Delta and HCM City to survey the situation and come up with timely measure to control the disease.

(Source: Tuoi Tre)