The Ministry of Health June 27 ordered its subdivisions to maintain a hotline concerning dengue fever, to combat the disease that is on an upward trend.

Municipal and provincial departments of health were asked to keep in touch with hospitals the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, the National hospital for Children, Hue Hospital, the Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, and two hospitals No. 1 and 2 for children, also in HCMC.

MOH warned that the disease is plaguing southern provinces, while more people in the central and highlands provinces are contracting dengue fever as well.

Figures showed that the number of infected people in the central and highlands is over 4,000, a rate that doubles numbers from the same period in 2009. Affected provinces include Khanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue, Phu Yen, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Da nang, Kon Tum and Gia Lai.

Moreover, Hanoi recorded over 300 people infected with the ailment; July is considered the peak season for the disease.

Antibiotic resistance due to severe abuse has reached alarming rate in Vietnam, according to a recent survey conducted by the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit and the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases.

A survey, conducted at pharmacies and hospitals in Hanoi over a one-month period found that cases in which children are prescribed antibiotics unnecessarily are rampant.

Uncontrolled use and abuse of antibiotics has caused a severe resistance to the medicines in Vietnam. The survey also reported that over 60 percent of people are resistant to medication that treats pneumonia.
 
By Q. Lap - Translated by Uyen Phuong
From SGGP Online