Summer is here now, and with the scorching heat comes a myriad of diseases that can affect your health. Summer months bring few illnesses that we should all watch out for and protect vulnerable populations such as children and older adults. Common diseases in the summer season include contagious respiratory infection, digestive problems, and heat stroke. Health experts are urging Da Nang residents to be aware of summer diseases and take precautions to stay safe and keep healthy during summer. Especially, necessary steps should be taken to protect children and older adults from heat-related illness. Currently, dengue fever and hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) are increasing at alarming levels in Da Nang.

Da Nang residents, especially vulnerable populations such as children and older adults, are advised take appropriate precautions to avoid heat-related illness. IN THE PHOTO: A doctor at the Da Nang Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital examines a child with dengue fever. Photo: PHAN CHUNG

Rise in number of hospitalisations among children and older people due to heat-related illness

The General Examination -Emergency Ward of the Da Nang Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital daily receives 1,200 to 1,500 outpatients, significantly higher than previously reported.

Doctor Le Van Dung, the Deputy Head of the Emergency Award said that the ward annually sees a significant rise in the number of child inpatients and outpatients due to rising temperatures.

“Children who were admitted to the hospital mainly suffered from respiratory-related diseases , including pneumonia, inflammation of the trachea and acute diarrhea, viral fever, HFMD and dengue fever. Hot weather can affect your baby or child because their bodies cannot adjust to changes in temperature as well as adults. Babies and children sweat less, reducing their bodies’ ability to cool down. They are at risk of overheating and developing a heat-related illness, " said Dr. Dung.

Parents are advised to carefully watch and take care of their children when the weather changes. It is necessary to keep children clean, avoid bringing them to crowded places, keep them indoors during peak heat hours, and protect them from exposure to a sudden change in temperature in order to avoid respiratory and digestive diseases in the summer. Special attention should be paid to diet in children and ensuring adequate intakes of fluid and nutrition in order to increase their resistance to heat-related illness.

Meanwhile, the number of heat-related hospitalizations among older people at the Da Nang General Hospital is showing signs of increasing.

Doctor Pham Van Tu, the Head of the Geriatric Department in the Da Nang General Hospital, remarked that older people frequently have multiple chronic conditions, and they are at significantly higher risk of respiratory illness, hypertension, and digestive disorders when the weather changes. Common summer diseases in older people include influenza with mild symptoms such as stuffy nose, headache, chills, and upper respiratory tract infection. In addition, acute bronchitis comes on quickly and can cause severe symptoms in seniors. During the summer months, this vunerable group may also suffer from deparoxysmal hypertension, a stroke that results from using air conditioning to stay cool in the heat too many hours, heatstroke, and digestive disorders.

Other common summer ailments in elderlies are inflammatory skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis, festering wounds, shingles or herpes zoster, skin lesions, along with osteoarthritis which occurs most frequently in the hands, hips, and knees.

In order to cope and stay safe in hot weather, older people are advised to drink plenty of water throughout the day to avoid dehydration, increase fruit and vegetable intake, especially easy-to-digest fruits and vegetables, to avoid constipation. Especially, people with chronic conditions should take their medications as prescribed or instructed by their doctors in a bid to prevent recurrence or exacerbations. Seniors need to be proactive and take precautions to avoid ailments, and they should stay indoors to avoid exposure to extreme temperatures. Early morning and late afternnon are best time for older adults to exercise or walk as the weather cools down.

Be cautious of dengue fever, HFMD

The seasonal diseases namely dengue fever and HFMD are on the rise in Da Nang.

According to the Da Nang Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 170 dengue cases were logged across the city in just one week from May 23-29, bringing the city’s total cases to 1,631 since the beginning of 2022. The districts reporting most cases are Hai Chau (16), Thanh Khe (26), Son Tra (19), Lien Chieu (43, and Cam Le (31). New hotspots or high-risk areas of dengue were identified last week in 3 districts, namely Hoa Vang, Ngu Hanh Son and Cam Le.

Furthermore, Da Nang recorded 81 new cases of HFMD in last week, bringing the total cases in the city to 546 so far this year.

Doctor Ton That Thanh, the Director of the Da Nang CDC stated that the increasing incidence of dengue in the city has been alarming as this year’s cases are higher than in previous year. He warned that the threat of a possible large-scale outbreak of dengue fever now exists in Da Nang as the city enters its rainy and stormy season that creates ideal conditions for increased mosquito activity.

Doctor Ton That Thanh is urging authorities at local level and relevant agencies to promote the health education and raise the awareness among local people in a bid to improve the control of dengue mosquito vector. The focus is on taking necessary measures to ensure effectiveness in the city’s control and management programs of dengue mosquito vector. Heed is paid to conduct increasing the public awareness and promoting the public health along with larval and adult control campaigns. The knowledge on the vector life cycle and its ecology and biology should be delivered to help local people to live in a healthy conditions and destruction of vectors breeding sites. Health education strategies should educate the people to break the mosquito life cycle by destroying the possible mosquito breeding sites such as concrete pools, water tanks, utensils, aquaria, irrigation ditches and drainages as well as disposable tires and wastes.

Special attention should be given to identifying high-risk areas of dengue in order to enable appropriate measures to be taken to control the dengue disease and reduce dengue infections.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG – translating by H.L