Many young people become seriously ill when infected with dengue fever

Khoa is currently a first-year student at a university in Ho Chi Minh City. Two days before being admitted to the hospital, Khoa had a high fever with diarrhea, vomiting, and loss of appetite. Thinking he had a common cold, Khoa bought Western medicine to take and drink fluids at home. After that, Khoa continued to work part-time until he fainted and was taken to the emergency room at Gia Dinh People’s Hospital.

Here, Khoa had extreme fatigue, vomiting a lot, urinating less, and his platelet test dropped to 160. Abdominal ultrasound results showed bleeding. He received intravenous fluids and medication and temporarily overcame the dangerous stage of dengue fever. Currently, Khoa is monitored, takes medication, and has blood tests every three days. According to Khoa, the residential area where he lives, his classroom, and his part-time job have not yet had anyone infected. “I thought it was just a normal fever, but I never thought I had dengue fever, so I subjectively treated myself, thinking the illness would pass,” Khoa said.

Ms. Vo Thi Phuong Lien (Hoc Mon district, Ho Chi Minh City) has a 17-year-old son being treated at Children’s Hospital 1. Six days ago, her son had a high fever of 38 degrees Celsius with a rash all over his body, Ms. Lien said. The child took fever-reducing medicine at home but it did not improve. A day later, her son had a nosebleed and fell into a prolonged coma, so the family took him to Children’s Hospital 1. Doctors diagnosed Lien’s son with dengue shock. He was continuously receiving intravenous fluids but there were still no significant changes and the dangerous stage was not yet over. “Normally my child often plays basketball, he is also very healthy, so the family thought it was just the flu, but they did not expect it to be this serious,” Ms. Lien said.

In early November, every day the Dengue Fever Department, Children’s Hospital 1, Ho Chi Minh City received an average of about 5 new dengue fever cases. The department is treating about 60 patients with dengue fever, including many severe cases and healthy people with no previous history of fever.

Latest statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC), from the beginning of the year to November 3, the entire city had 10,641 cases of dengue fever. Notably, the dengue fever epidemic is showing signs of continuously increasing in the last 4 weeks from 516 cases in week 41 to 661 cases in week 44.

Thus, the number of cases in week 44 (October 28 – November 3) increased by 21% compared to the average of the previous 4 weeks. The number of hospitalized cases this week also increased by 89 cases compared to last week, to 414 cases, including 113 cases residing in other provinces (accounting for 27.3%). The average number of severe cases treated is 12/day.

Districts with a high number of cases per 100,000 people include District 1, Thu Duc City and District 7.

Dengue fever is an acute infectious disease caused by the Dengue virus. The disease is transmitted from person to person through the bite of female mosquitoes carrying the virus, mainly Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Dengue fever can cause severe complications, difficult and expensive treatment, and even death. Many cases of dengue fever have no symptoms but are still capable of transmitting the disease to others.

Doctor Bach Thi Chinh, Medical Director, VNVC Vaccination System, said dengue fever can happen to anyone. Subjects at high risk of getting worse include children under 5 years old, pregnant women, people with underlying diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure, kidney failure… However, in healthy people, there is no disease. background, the disease can still progress unpredictably. The US CDC estimates that the overall rate of worsening of dengue fever patients worldwide is 5%, meaning that one in every 20 patients will develop severe, life-threatening conditions.

Doctor Chinh said that some of the reasons that can cause healthy people to get worse when infected with dengue fever are subjective psychology, self-medication or intravenous fluids at home. Sometimes the disease is misdiagnosed as hand, foot and mouth disease or viral fever, causing missed opportunities for early treatment.

On the other hand, dengue fever has unpredictable developments. Warning signs of progression to severe dengue fever often occur in the late stages, after the patient has experienced a state of fever – no fever – fever again. These are persistent vomiting, severe abdominal pain, fluid accumulation, mucosal bleeding, lethargy, restlessness, postural hypotension, hepatomegaly and gradually increasing hematocrit (blood concentration). During the 24-48 hour period when the fever disappears, the patient can leak plasma and become seriously ill in just a few hours. Patients with severe plasma leakage may have pleural effusion, ascites (ascites), hypoproteinemia, or hemoconcentration.

According to Dr. Chinh, a person can get dengue fever 4 times with 4 different serotypes, including Den-1, Den-2, Den-3 and Den-4. There is currently no specific treatment for dengue fever, but there is a vaccine to prevent the disease. In May 2024, the Ministry of Health officially approved the Qdenga dengue vaccine, against all 4 types of Dengue virus. The vaccine is indicated for all children 4 years of age and older and adults, regardless of previous dengue infection. The vaccination schedule includes two injections 3 months apart, and does not require a dengue fever screening test before vaccination.

Qdenga is a live, attenuated vaccine, so it is not recommended for immunocompromised people and pregnant women. Women planning to become pregnant should avoid pregnancy for at least three months, and for at least one month after completing the course.

Doctor Chinh recommends that in addition to getting vaccinated correctly and on schedule, people need to coordinate with other dengue prevention measures such as environmental sanitation, cleaning up waste that contains water in and around them. around the house, rinse jars, cover water containers… to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs. Clearing bushes, keeping the house well ventilated, regularly washing blankets and blankets are also ways to prevent mosquitoes from residing… Wearing long clothes, sleeping under mosquito nets even during the day, using mosquito repellent cream… no Giving mosquito bites is a way to protect the health of yourself and the community.