Nguyen Thanh Dung, director of the HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases, cited surveillance data from the Pasteur Institute in HCM City at a scientific conference on infectious diseases on August 20.
The region also recorded more than 61,200 hand, foot and mouth disease cases, including 11 deaths, while meningococcal disease caused five deaths among 33 reported cases.
Cases rose sharply year on year, except for measles, which fell more than 97 per cent to 964 following a vaccination campaign. Whooping cough, Covid-19 and diphtheria remained at low levels.
Dung said the pattern of infectious diseases among inpatients at the HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases had shifted continually between 2022 and 2026, forcing the hospital to adapt its treatment capacity each year.
Some diseases that had previously occurred only sporadically, including mpox, mumps and chickenpox, have also re-emerged.
The hospital also reported a sharp rise in HIV/AIDS inpatients, with more than 48 per cent requiring mechanical ventilation during 2022-2025 and thousands suffering opportunistic infections.
Dengue is entering another cyclical outbreak period in 2026, while hand, foot and mouth disease cases are also rising.
The hospital has prepared intensive care capacity, ventilators, blood filtration equipment, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) systems, isolation areas, medicines and testing facilities to cope with a potential increase in severe cases.
It is also supporting disease surveillance in the community and providing specialist assistance for complicated cases at lower-level medical facilities.
The hospital shares real-time treatment data with public health agencies, including the HCM City Centre for Disease Control and the Pasteur Institute in HCM City, to help detect emerging outbreaks early.
