Published Date: 1999-04-04 23:50:00
Subject: PRO> Dengue/DHF - Vietnam 1998 summary
Archive Number: 19990404.0539

DENGUE/DHF - VIETNAM 1998 SUMMARY
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A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.healthnet.org/programs/promed.html>
[see also
Dengue/DHF - Vietnam (09) 981103190147
Dengue - Malaysia: 1998 (02) 990224213400
Dengue/DHF - Singapore: Summary for 1998 990227204301
Dengue/DHF - Indonesia (Jakarta) 990225201411]
Date: 4 April 1999
From: Marjorie P. Pollack <pollackmp@mindspring.com>
Source: media report, 3 Apr 1999

Dengue fever killed 383 people in Vietnam last year, nearly 70% more than
the
death toll from the disease a year earlier, a government official has said.
The Ministry of Public Health official said 234 866 people contracted the
disease last year, up from 107 000 in 1997, when 226 people died of the
fever.
The official blamed the surge in cases on the El Nino weather phenomenon,
lack of hygienic conditions, a high population growth rate and the spread
of dengue [viruses] through Southeast Asia.
He said Vietnam's central and southern provinces were hit particularly hard
as hot weather, swamps and water tanks prepared by farmers for use in the
dry season created an ideal environment for disease-carrying [_Aedes_]
mosquitoes.
For the first time, the government this year has included dengue fever in
its national anti-epidemic program and allocated $1 million to fight the
disease.
--
ProMED-mail
e-mail: promed@usa.healthnet.org
[We have included the term "DHF" (dengue hemorrhagic fever) in the title
even
though no mention is made of this complication. People do not usually die
of
uncomplicated dengue and DHF is the most common complication of dengue in
Asia
and elsewhere, so we are assuming that DHF was involved in most of these
deaths. No mention is made as to age stratification of illnesses or deaths
but it is likely that many of the deaths were in children. If anyone has
hard
data, rather than a media report, please send them to ProMED-mail - Mod.CHC]
................................calisher /jw
--
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