The HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases recently treated two young patients who developed severe complications after initially experiencing fever and fatigue.
A 16-year-old girl developed dengue shock, severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, bleeding, heart failure and multiple organ failure within days of being admitted.
After mechanical ventilation failed to improve her blood oxygen levels, doctors placed her on venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) to support her lungs.
During more than a month of treatment, she required several ECMO membrane replacements, blood transfusions and blood products. Her treatment was further complicated by a hospital-acquired infection caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria.
Despite having health insurance, her treatment cost about VND 1 billion (USD 38,200), largely due to prolonged ECMO support, antibiotics and blood products.
Another patient, aged 21, was admitted with dengue shock, severe acute liver failure, acute kidney injury, blood-clotting disorders and bleeding.
As his condition deteriorated into multiple organ failure, he required mechanical ventilation, drugs to maintain his blood pressure, repeated continuous dialysis and blood transfusions.
He recovered and was discharged after 45 days of treatment. The patient had no health insurance, prompting the hospital to seek financial assistance from organisations and donors.
At HCM City Children's Hospital, a seven-year-old child also required mechanical ventilation after developing severe dengue shock, gastrointestinal bleeding and serious liver damage.
The child had experienced a high fever for four days before developing abdominal pain, vomiting, black stools and cold hands and feet on the fifth day.
After about two weeks of treatment, the child was taken off the ventilator and is continuing to recover.
The HCM City Centre for Disease Control (HCDC) reported 1,338 dengue cases from August 31 to September 6, up 7.2 per cent from the average of the previous four weeks.
The city has recorded 31,032 cases so far this year, with Chanh Phu Hoa, Minh Thanh and An Nhon Tay among areas reporting high infection rates.
Doctors warned that dengue patients can deteriorate rapidly between the third and seventh days of illness, often when their fever begins to subside, which can lead patients or parents to mistakenly believe they are recovering.
Warning signs include severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, lethargy, restlessness, cold hands and feet, breathing difficulties and bleeding.
