Through
the first four months of 2016, Vietnamese health officials have reported 25,441
cases of dengue including 10 deaths in approximately two-thirds of the
provinces. This is an increase of 179 percent compared to the same period in
2015 (through May 10 last year, Vietnam saw
10,892 cases of dengue).
Health
officials also note that compared to the median in 2010-2014 period, the
cumulative number of cases increased by 124%.
In all of
2015, Vietnam reported 97,476 cases of dengue, including 61 deaths, reported in
54 out of 63 provinces in the country.
Dengue is
a viral infection transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. There are
four closely related but antigenically different serotypes of the virus that
can cause dengue (DEN1, DEN 2, DEN 3, DEN 4).
Dengue
has a wide spectrum of infection outcome (asymptomatic to symptomatic).
Symptomatic illness can vary from dengue fever (DF) to the more serious dengue
hemorrhagic fever (DHF).
Dengue
Fever (DF) – marked by an onset of sudden high fever, severe headache, pain
behind the eyes, and pain in muscles and joints. Some may also have a rash and
varying degree of bleeding from various parts of the body (including nose,
mouth and gums or skin bruising).
Dengue
Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) – is a more severe form, seen only in a small
proportion of those infected. DHF is a stereotypic illness characterized by 3
phases; febrile phase with high continuous fever usually lasting for less than
7 days; critical phase (plasma leaking) lasting 1-2 days usually apparent when
fever comes down, leading to shock if not detected and treated early;
convalescence phase lasting 2-5 days with improvement of appetite, bradycardia
(slow heart rate), convalescent rash (white patches in red background), often
accompanied by generalized itching (more intense in palms and soles), and
diuresis (increase urine output).
In the
past 50 years, the incidence of dengue worldwide has increased 30-fold, largely
as a consequence of the growth of cities and increased travel.
According
to a 2013 WHO report between 1955 and 1959, the number of countries reporting
cases of dengue increased from three to eight; in 2012, the geographical
distribution of dengue included more than 125 countries.
The World
Health Organization (WHO) estimates there may be 50–100 million dengue
infections worldwide every year. However,there was 2013 research from the University
of Oxford and the Wellcome Trust, using cartographic approaches, estimate there
to be 390 million dengue infections per year worldwide.
No comments:
Post a Comment