The risk of a malaria outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City is very low, the city’s Center for Disease Control (HCDC) assessed following the recent detection of two imported infections in the southern metropolis.

A representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases confirmed last weekend that the infirmary was treating two severe malaria patients who arrived from Africa.

The first patient, a 24-year-old Vietnamese woman who returned from Cameroon, was in a coma when she was admitted to the hospital.

She also suffered anemia and her urine had turned reddish brown.

The second patient, a 63-year-old Chinese man who arrived in Vietnam from Ivory Coast, was diagnosed with kidney failure, liver damage, and lactic acidosis.

Both of the malaria patients had a high parasite density.

In 2021, Vietnam documented a total of 465 malaria cases, down 67 percent compared to 2020, the HCDC said on Sunday.

Among them, only 43 cases were detected in southern localities, a 76-percent drop from 2020.

By 2021, 36 provinces and cities across Vietnam had been recognized as malaria-free localities, the HCDC stated, adding that the country aims to achieve malaria elimination by 2030.

Ho Chi Minh City has not recorded any intrinsic malaria cases since 2011 and was recognized as a malaria-free locality in 2020.

The metropolis still logs a number of malaria infections every year, all imported or transferred from other areas in the country.

The HCDC presently maintains regular activities to closely monitor the disease under the guidance of the Ministry of Health.

Ho Chi Minh City is at a very low risk of malaria transmission as the results of insect monitoring showed that no malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, or Anopheles mosquitoes, were found in the metropolis.

The health sector recommends that residents take measures to prevent dengue fever, an infectious disease that is currently circulating in the city, as well as other mosquito-borne diseases.

Dengue fever is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with a dengue virus.

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