Guangdong steps up fight against dengue

Guangdong province in South China has stepped up preventive measures to control the spread of dengue fever, with more than 10,300 confirmed cases having been reported by the end of October.

With the spread ongoing, the illness is still posing a serious threat to residents despite last week's drop in the number of patients, according to a statement released by the Guangdong Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday.

The subtropical province detected 1,785 patients from Oct 21 to 27, compared to more than 2,000 confirmed cases reported in the weeks before, said the statement, adding that most of the dengue fever patients were detected in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, and its neighboring city Foshan.

The statement called on all residents in the country's most populous region to participate in the fight against the spread of dengue fever.

To combat the virus, local departments, property management companies, parks and environmental management units were urged to strengthen sanitation management to mitigate mosquito breeding and insect habitation.

"The infectious disease department has a total of 40 beds, all of which have fully been occupied in recent weeks, and the situation has been going on for some time," said Wang Jianhua, director of the infectious disease department at Foshan Fosun Chancheng Hospital.

"The hospital's other departments, including the respiratory and oncology departments, have also allocated some beds to help treat dengue fever patients to meet the demand," said Wang, adding that it was quite difficult to rely solely on the infectious disease department to treat the spate of dengue fever patients coming in.

Chen Qifang, a nurse with the hospital's infectious disease department, said most dengue patients are discharged after a week of treatment.

In previous years, patients used to experience symptoms such as fever, joint pain and rash. But this year, many have also experienced gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, along with mild to severe headaches, according to Chen.

"Some patients said getting infected with dengue fever this year is even more uncomfortable than getting infected with COVID-19," she said.

Many local doctors have urged patients to use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and aspirin with caution, as they increase the risk of bleeding. There is no specific medicine for dengue fever, so medical workers focus on giving patients drugs to mitigate the pain, the doctors said.

Peng Jie, an infectious disease doctor from Guangzhou-based Nanfang Hospital, said for those who do not have underlying diseases such as gastric ulcers or digestive ulcers, or whose platelet counts are not less than 80, the use of drugs such as ibuprofen can help reduce fever and relieve pain.

"But when the dengue fever patients have other underlying ulcerative diseases or low platelet counts, the use of ibuprofen can increase the risk of bleeding. Overall, the medication can be used under certain conditions," Peng said.

In Guangzhou, dengue fever cases have been reported in all 11 districts of the city, which has a population of about 20 million.

Speaking at a recent academic conference on infectious diseases, Tang Xiaoping, Party secretary of Guangzhou Medical University, said dengue fever has become one of the most prominent infectious diseases worldwide.

The infectious disease expert said according to the World Health Organization, approximately 2.5 billion people worldwide are at risk of dengue virus infection, with about 3.2 million cases reported annually across the globe.