Dengue fever season, hand, foot and mouth disease increases rapidly in Ho Chi Minh City

The Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (CDC) said the number of hand, foot and mouth disease cases is increasing rapidly while dengue fever is entering its season, putting the city at risk of overlapping epidemics.

The results of virus sequencing of 6 samples of hand, foot and mouth disease in Ho Chi Minh City showed that all were infected with EV71 genotype B5. This is a highly virulent virus type, causing severe illness and rapid infection. The Department of Health assessed that the appearance of this virus strain caused "a truly worrying situation". The number of hand, foot and mouth disease cases in early June was twice as high as the previous two weeks, including the death of a 5-year-old boy.

Children’s hospitals in the city are treating 20-25 inpatient cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (each hospital) per day, including many serious patients. In previous months, there were only an average of 5-6 children hospitalized or no cases at all.

Along with hand, foot and mouth disease, Ho Chi Minh City is preparing for the peak season of dengue fever , which is expected to last for about 2-3 weeks and last until the end of October. CDC's monitoring of epidemic prevention activities in wards and communes shows that 20 points are at risk of dengue fever outbreaks, out of a total of 39 points, with a rate of over 50%.

"This rate will certainly be higher when the city enters the rainy season if we do not drastically kill mosquitoes and larvae to control the epidemic," said a representative of HCDC, adding that the number of dengue fever cases in hospitals has begun to increase slightly, with severe cases accounting for about 10%.

HCDC believes that Ho Chi Minh City is facing a very high risk of overlapping epidemics (hand, foot and mouth disease - dengue fever). The consequence of this is that it can easily lead to overloading of the health system, which can cause errors, hospital infections and cross-infection between pediatric patients.

On the afternoon of June 6, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee issued an urgent document requesting units to prevent hand, foot and mouth disease, emphasizing high-risk areas such as childcare centers, kindergartens, primary schools, residential areas, and boarding houses with many children. People are advised to clean their living environment, monitor symptoms of the disease and go to the hospital promptly, avoiding subjectivity. The Department of Health also said that it has developed scenarios for admission and treatment if the number of cases increases; ensuring medicine and human resources.

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