A patient is being treated for chicken-pox, a common illness among kids, at the HCMC’s Children Hospital No. 1

Unusual weather has caused dengue fever, measles and chicken-pox cases to rise sharply in different areas of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Dengue fever has shown no signs of a let-up in HCMC since early this year, doctors say.

HCMC -based hospitals say since last month around 1,400 people have been hospitalized with dengue fever, up 200 cases over the same period last year.

Around 200 cases have been reported per week, they add.

The doctors attribute the epidemic to unseasonal rains in the city, causing mosquitoes to multiply prolifically in several districts.

Symptoms of dengue fever, a common mosquito-borne disease in developing countries, include high flu-like fever, skin rashes and severe pain in the head and limbs.

HCMC’s districts 8, Thu Duc, Tan Binh, and Tan Phu are worst hit with the cases of dengue fever up by as much as 300 percent over the same period last year, says Nguyen Dac Tho, deputy director of the city’s Health Preventive Center.

Tho, who was speaking at a meeting Friday with health agencies in 24 districts, instructed local health leaders to take precautionary measures against the disease. He also warned residents to remain vigilant and contain the epidemic.

Dengue fever is transmitted by daytime-biting mosquitoes and international health organizations recommend people try and avoid being bitten by using insect repellant and wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants.

Other tropical diseases like chickenpox, measles, rubella, or mumps have also spread across HCMC and Hanoi as the winter-spring period is very conducive to their development, says Dr. Nguyen Phuong Hoa Binh of Children’s Hospital No. 2 in HCMC.

Since last month, Children’s Hospital No. 1 has admitted around 300 patients with chicken-pox, says Dr. Truong Huu Khanh.

Chickenpox is a common illness among kids, particularly those under age 12. An itchy rash of spots that look like blisters can appear all over the body and may be accompanied by flu-like symptoms.

Symptoms usually go away without treatment, but because the infection is very contagious, an infected child should stay at home and rest until the symptoms are gone, doctors advise.

At Hanoi’s Dermatology Hospital, between seven and 10 children have been hospitalized every day since the beginning of the year with chicken pox.

The worst outbreak of measles over the past decade has hit Hanoi, with at least 600 people affected over the past month, and has started to spread to children, the Central Children’s Hospital said Friday.

Around seven to 10 children suffering measles have been hospitalized per day, the hospital says.

Measles is a virus usually contracted during childhood. Symptoms usually include rashes and inflammation of the nose, throat, ears, mouth and bronchi, with adults the most prone to more serious complications.

The National Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases said the last severe measles outbreak had occurred more than 10 years ago but most of the patients then were teenagers.

Inoculation rush

The measles outbreak in Hanoi and HCMC has sent people scurrying to hospitals and health centers to have themselves and their children vaccinated.

Tran Ngoc Huu, head of the HCMC Pasteur Institute says the soaring demand has resulted in a shortage of the vaccine.

To Thi Tuyet Mai, director of HCMC’s Cu Chi District Preventive Center, says the center has had to handle up to 10 vaccination cases per day from one to two during normal days.

It would take another seven to ten days before the next shipment of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine arrives in Vietnam while demand for it has skyrocketed, says Do Sy Hien, an official of the National Extended Vaccination Program.

The Ministry of Health Friday instructed local governments to prepare enough of the measles vaccines to meet demand.

Reported by Thanh Nien staff