Malaria outbreak threatens central region

In the aftermath of the Ketsana and Mirinea typhoons, malaria is threatening the central and Central Highland regions.

"It is even more dangerous as people don't have the routine of sleeping with mosquito nets," said Trieu Nguyen Trung from the Quy Nhon Institute of Malaria, Parasites and Insects.

Those provinces, affected by the two storms, were most in danger as preventive chemicals to stop the spread of malaria had been washed away. Awareness of the risks of contracting malaria among local people was still low and district-level hospitals were ill-equiped to treat malignant cases, he added.

In an effort to prevent the spread of the disease, the institute has provided chemicals to spray high-risk areas inhabited by 3.8 million people.

Statistics from the institute showed the number of malaria cases in the central and Central Highland regions had increased by 55.7 per cent over last year's same period. Sixteen people, out of 110 reported malignant malaria cases, died from the disease in the regions last year, accounting for four out of five deaths from the disease nationwide.

When mosquitoes attack

Mosquito-borne diseases could also soon affect Binh Thanh District of Ho Chi Minh City which has been facing a scourge of mosquitoes for nearly one month. Phan Van Dinh from Binh Thanh District's Administrative Department reported that mosqitoes had multiplied in numbers after serious water pollution and aggressive growth of water hyacinth, a free-floating aquatic plant, which has created favourable conditions for mosquito breeding, after the city's Lang Canal was sealed for upgrades.

The Nhieu Loc Thi Nghe canal has also been badly affected by mosquitoes after it was sealed for construction of a dyke in Binh Loi river. Pollution had increased after water stopped flowing through the canal and a plague of mosquitoes is reported to have spread to Wards 11,12 and 13 of the district, according to director of the Binh Thanh District's Preventive Medicine Department.

Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Huynh Thanh said the city would ask the management board of the dyke to speed up project progress to alleviate the situation.

The head of Binh Thanh District's People's Committee, Le Thi Bich, said that local authorities had organised a cleaning campaign to improve the situation. But after spraying 45 litres of anti-mosquito chemicals in the affected areas, the situation had not improved.