Hand-foot-mouth disease, dengue on rise in Vietnam

The hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) and dengue were on the rise across Vietnam, reported the Vietnam Preventive Medicine Administration (PMA) on Tuesday. As of Oct. 23, the country had more than 76,120 HFMD patients and 135 fatalities. The number of incidents has increased significantly over the last few weeks, with an average of 2,000-2, 500 new cases reported each week. Southern Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong, Long An and Quang Ngai were the most-hit localities, said the report. Meanwhile, dengue was also reported on the rise. In the first ten months of the year, there were more than 41,200 infected cases and 32 fatalities. Currently, an average of 2-3 cases a day were hospitalized by dengue infections, mainly from capital Hanoi. Epidemiologists said that the increase of HFMD and dengue was due to the lack of specialized medicine and preventive vaccines. In addition, complicated climate change, environment pollution and low awareness of the disease among the community have contributed to the spread of the diseases nationwide.