The Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health yesterday said that the Ministry decided to set up 10 inspection teams for dengue fever prevention mission in 20 cities and provinces.
Inspectors will liaise with health departments and people’s committees about enhancing measures to curb infection cases and deaths as well as increase information to residents.
As there has been no vaccine against the disease till now, a project has been initiated by the Ministry of Health and the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang that facilitates scientists’ attempts to eliminate dengue epidemics. Tens of thousands of mosquitoes have been injecting with Wolbachia biological agent created in laboratories and able to prevent development of virus in mosquito bodies. Scientific researches show that the mosquitoes with Wolbachia will not spread the dengue disease.
The mosquitoes with Wolbachia were released to a small community in Tri Nguyen Island in Nha Trang city in May, 2014. Scientists found that 95 percent of mosquitoes in nature on the island now have been infected with Wolbachia biological agent.
Additionally, there has been no case of dengue fever on the island since 2014.
Dengue fever is spreading across Viet Nam with 39,000 cases reported in 51 cities and provinces nationwide, including 23 deaths.
