Hanoi: Following the "special task force" hunting poisonous mosquitoes during the peak of dengue fever

(Dan Tri) - The dengue fever epidemic in Hanoi has entered its peak phase, with hundreds of new cases each week. The capital's health sector has increased inspection and monitoring of outbreaks, and has encouraged people to proactively prevent the disease.

According to the Hanoi Center for Disease Control, last week (from October 10 to October 17), the entire city recorded 354 cases of dengue fever in 101 wards and communes.

Thanks to the drastic intervention of authorities, especially the health sector, the cumulative number of dengue fever cases since the beginning of the year has been controlled at more than 3,000 cases, down 27% compared to the same period in 2024.

Accumulated in 2025, Hanoi recorded 174 outbreaks, of which 27 are still active.

On the morning of October 22, the Hanoi CDC's Mobile Epidemic Prevention Team No. 5 conducted a monitoring and investigation into the handling of the dengue fever outbreak in Bo De ward after the second round of handling.

Previously, on October 10, a dengue fever outbreak occurred in Gia Quat Residential Group 3 with 2 patients. The first case was recorded on October 5, the second case was recorded on October 8.

Before the "deployment", the leaders of the People's Committee, Bo De Ward Health Station, representatives of Gia Quat Residential Group No. 3 and Mobile Team No. 5 had a meeting to discuss the epidemic situation in the area and discuss the most effective monitoring and investigation plan.

Alley 161 Gia Quat Street is one of the key surveillance points, having previously recorded a case of dengue fever.

The working group directly entered houses in the alley, as well as observed high-risk areas such as stagnant water areas and waste materials that could contain water to assess the risk of dengue fever.

Mr. NTL's house at 4/161 Gia Quat has 4 people. According to Mr. L's wife, the family rarely gets bitten by mosquitoes.

The team of Master Vu Bien - Department of Parasitology - Entomology, CDC Hanoi used flashlights to carefully check high-risk areas. On the rooftop, Mr. L's family planted many plants but did not detect any stagnant water containing mosquito larvae.

In the bedroom and worship room areas, the team discovered mosquitoes. MSc. Bien also reminded the family that the area where half-worn clothes are hung on the first floor is at high risk, because the smell of human sweat can attract mosquitoes.

At the house next to Mr. L.’s, the inspection team recorded a number of mosquitoes living in the stairwell area. The family said that they had sprayed insecticide twice before.

After carefully observing and determining that the mosquito resting on the stairs was indeed an Aedes aegypti mosquito (also known as the tiger mosquito), the main vector of dengue fever, Dr. Bien used a test tube to catch the mosquito for evaluation.

Along with the investigation of catching adult mosquitoes, the team conducted an investigation of catching mosquito larvae by observing, collecting, recording and identifying mosquito larvae in all water containers in and around the house.

At a household near the end of the alley, the mobile team discovered a used ice cream carton containing many mosquito larvae mixed in the rooftop garden.

When informed that there were mosquito larvae in the house, the family expressed concern. The family was also very surprised to know about the existence of this mosquito larvae container. According to the share, because there are small children in the house, the whole family strictly followed the mosquito control measures as propagated by the neighborhood group and ward.

According to the representative of the Mobile Team No. 5, this is not an isolated case. Although people have a high awareness of disease prevention, sometimes they still do not have enough knowledge and in-depth recognition of tools that can contain mosquito larvae.

"For example, some families have fish tanks and rockeries and think that if there are fish, there will be no mosquito larvae. However, right above there is a small area of ​​stagnant water that creates an opportunity for mosquito larvae to live. In reality, most of the objects containing mosquito larvae discovered during today's inspection and monitoring trip are scrap materials that people have forgotten or did not think about," said a representative of the mobile team.

According to health experts, the risk of dengue outbreaks is often assessed based on the presence and density of disease-carrying mosquitoes, especially Aedes aegypti. Two important insect indices used are the Aedes mosquito density index and the larval index (BI).

Gia Quat Primary School currently has more than 1,000 students. School representatives said that every week there are general cleaning sessions, checking stagnant water objects and aquatic plants to prevent dengue fever.

Every day, if students are absent from school, their homeroom teachers will update information and reasons on a link for the school board to keep them informed. During the past time, the school has not recorded any cases of students with dengue fever.

Through the inspection, the working group determined that the school basically implemented well the plans to prevent dengue fever. The school proactively punctured the barrels and materials that could contain water outdoors.

However, the team also discovered that the tires at the corner of the school had water on the inside. Upon inspection, many Aedes mosquitoes and larvae were found.

"These are difficult to identify mosquito larvae nests. We have instructed the school to check additional risk areas such as the sports goal posts in the gym and handle them promptly," said a representative of the mobile team.

After checking, the BI result of the epidemic area was 30. Meanwhile, BI index above 20 is considered to still have the risk of dengue fever. Therefore, the working group recommended that the locality should continue to have timely intervention measures to prevent the epidemic.

The delegation also emphasized the importance of propaganda work to raise people's awareness and responsibility. In order to prevent dengue fever, the role of each citizen is very important.

Hanoi CDC said that the number of dengue fever cases is on the rise, with some outbreaks recording many patients and complicated developments.

The weather is currently in the transitional period, with erratic rain and sunshine and high humidity creating favorable conditions for disease-carrying mosquitoes to breed and develop, posing a great risk of an outbreak in the community.

Monitoring results show that insect indexes in many areas remain at high risk levels, and it is predicted that the number of infections may continue to increase according to the annual epidemic cycle.

To prevent disease effectively, the most important measure is still to kill mosquitoes, larvae and avoid mosquito bites.

Therefore, each person needs to take the following measures: Cover all water containers tightly to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs; sleep under mosquito nets even during the day, wear long clothes to avoid mosquito bites; use mosquito repellent measures such as creams, lamps or electric rackets.

Each family should spend at least 10 minutes each week checking and removing mosquito larvae nests in water containers; washing and covering water tanks; and releasing fish into aquariums to kill mosquito larvae.

Change the water in vases regularly, add salt or mosquito larva killer chemicals to bowls of water placed under cupboards, aquariums, and rockeries; at the same time, remove stagnant waste materials and turn unused tools upside down to prevent mosquito breeding.

Photo: Hai Long

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/ha-noi-theo-chan-doi-dac-nhiem-san-muoi-doc-giua-cao-diem-sot-xuat-huyet-20251022183454342.htm