Low water, many mosquitoes, construction workers' dormitories face the risk of dengue fever

worry about epidemics in workers' dormitories

Living in temporary, cramped rented rooms in a small alley on My Dinh Street (Hanoi), many construction workers said that the worry of epidemics is always present. For workers far from home, working hard and living in humid conditions, proactive disease prevention still seems to be a distant task.

In the rented room that the contractor built, Ms. Do Thi Hue (Ninh Binh) said that the flood after storm No. 11 caused the entire rental area to be submerged in water for 4-5 days. When the water is flooded, all the activities of workers here are disrupted.

"When the water is flooded, I worry about skin diseases, when the water recedes, many mosquitoes fly into the room and are afraid of dengue fever," said Ms. Hue.

To prevent mosquitoes, Ms. Do Thi Hue can only make curtains and burn mosquito incense every night, to the best of her ability. With a specific job, following construction projects all year round, Ms. Hue can only find ways to adapt to the living environment.

For construction workers, the work has to come home early and late, so cleaning, disinfection, and mosquito control are very difficult to do regularly.

Renting a nearby motel, Mr. Do Van Kien (Nghe An) - a construction worker said that he had only moved here for about a month but the area here has more mosquitoes than his old residence.

Mr. Kien said that recently, mosquitoes have appeared a lot, especially in the late afternoon. "Every 6-7 hours, there are many mosquitoes flying. I can't stand not spraying medicine," said Mr. Kien.

Every week, Mr. Kien and other construction workers contribute money to buy mosquito spray bottles for about 120,000 VND. With a spray bottle, Mr. Kien can only use it for about half a week. Although expensive, to protect their health, Mr. Kien and other workers still have to try to buy mosquito spray regularly. However, Mr. Kien said that this is only a temporary measure because the rented room is damp, it is very difficult to kill all the mosquitoes.

According to Lao Dong reporters, around the rooms of Ms. Hue and Mr. Kien, the environmental pollution is also very serious, the black wastewater flows right behind the rows of rooms, accompanied by spontaneous piles of garbage right next to the rooms, giving off a foul, unpleasant smell.

Risk of dengue fever and infectious diseases increases

According to the Hanoi Center for Disease Control, from October 3 to October 10, the whole city recorded 334 cases of dengue fever in 95 wards and communes. The number of cases decreased compared to last week, but the outbreaks were still recorded as complicated, the results of insect index outbreak monitoring were at a high risk level, and the number of cases was forecast to continue to increase following the annual epidemic cycle.

Discussing the dengue fever epidemic situation in Hanoi, Dr. Nguyen Trung Cap, Deputy Director of the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said that there were years when epidemics broke out early, and from March to April alone, many major outbreaks appeared. However, there are also years when the situation is relatively more stable.

"Since the beginning of the year, the number of dengue fever cases recorded in Hanoi has not been too many and there have not been major outbreaks. However, we are in a period of prone to prolonged rain - a favorable time for mosquito development, with the risk of increasing dengue fever. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to closely monitor and implement timely control measures," Dr. Cap emphasized.

In addition to dengue fever, Dr. Cap also said that prolonged flooding after storms can be a condition that triggers many other dangerous infectious diseases such as athlete's foot fungus, contact dermatitis, itchy rashes, etc.

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