According to Thanh Nien, doctors in HCMC have noticed an alarming rise in the number of dengue fever cases in recent weeks, especially among adults. To complicate matters, the virus is often misdiagnosed.
Transmitted via mosquito bite, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Truong of the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases said that beyond environmental factors, lack of knowledge poses major challenges for treatment of the potentially fatal virus:
“Many people still mistakenly believe that adults are totally immune to dengue, which has led to serious complications.”
Truong used the recent example of a 25-year-old man who suffered difficulty breathing and liver damage after he was mistakenly diagnosed and treated at a private clinic for influenza.
The number of reported dengue fever patients at the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases increased from 817 in June to 1,042 last month.
Furthermore, “a survey at the Children Hospital No. 2 found that the parents of roughly one in every three dengue fever patients mistakenly believed their children had only contracted a sore throat or minor digestive ailment,” reports Thanh Nien.
The virus is a major issue for countries that located in tropical climates, with 50 to 528 million infected each year, resulting in approximately 25,000 deaths. From 2000 – 2010, 12 countries in Southeast Asia were estimated to have about 3 million infections and 6,000 deaths annually.
Avoiding areas such as canals and stagnant water where mosquitos live and thrive, here are some tips to avoid getting bitten by the blood-sucking pests.
