Tanvir Ahammed :
Dengue death toll crossed 200 marks this year with 76 fatalities were reported in September alone according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Data of the DGHS showed, Bangladesh has just endured its worst dengue outbreak of 2024, with September marking a grim record in both hospitalisations and fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease.
A staggering 15,866 dengue cases and 76 deaths were reported last month alone – the highest monthly figures recorded this year, the DGHS data showed.
The spike pushed the overall dengue death toll for 2024 past 200, while total reported cases rose to 47,832. As per the data, the outbreak has been intensifying steadily since the middle of the year.
Hospitalisations jumped from 1,773 in May to nearly 6,000 in June, before climbing further to 10,684 in July and 10,496 in August.
September, however, surpassed all previous months, highlighting how rapidly the disease has spread across the country.
Earlier in the year, cases had remained relatively low, with 374 reported in February and 336 in March. While January recorded 1,161 patients, that month saw a comparatively high 10 fatalities, whereas March was the only month with no reported deaths.
On Wednesday alone, the DGHS reported two more deaths and 490 fresh hospital admissions, bringing the total number of patients currently under treatment to 2,359 nationwide.
Health experts warn that without urgent, coordinated efforts, the crisis could worsen further.
Talking with The New Nation, Professor Dr M. Muzaherul Huq, former adviser to the World Health Organisation (WHO), stressed the importance of mass awareness campaigns alongside sustained mosquito control measures.
“The Aedes mosquito population is spreading across the country, raising the risk of both dengue and chikungunya outbreaks.
The government must strengthen integrated drives to contain this,” he told The New Nation.
The DGHS bulletin also revealed worrying regional trends. Among Wednesday’s new patients, 214 were from Dhaka’s two city corporation areas alone.
Barishal reported 138 new cases outside the city corporation, Dhaka Division outside the capital accounted for 100, Chattogram logged 60, while Mymensingh and Rangpur recorded 28 and 22 cases respectively. Three men, aged 33, 38, and 68, died in Barishal on the same day, underscoring the severity of the outbreak beyond Dhaka.
September’s 76 fatalities surpassed the 41 reported in July and the 39 in August, making it the deadliest month of the year so far. Earlier in 2024, there were 10 deaths in January, three in February, seven in April, three in May, and 19 in June.
Bangladesh has faced recurrent dengue crises in recent years, but the scale of outbreaks has escalated dramatically. Last year, 575 lives were lost to the disease, while 2023 went down as the deadliest year since records began in 2000 – with 321,179 hospitalisations and an unprecedented 1,705 deaths.
Public health officials fear that unless stronger preventive measures are adopted, 2024 could again end with one of the highest annual tolls in history.
