Dengue death toll crosses 1100-mark
UNB :
The death toll from dengue infection rose to 1109 in this year with 13 more casualties reported in the last 24 hours till Tuesday morning.
Besides, 2,555 new dengue patients were hospitalized during the same period, according to data released by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Of the new cases, 617 were reported in Dhaka city and 2,253 were from various parts of the country.
A total of 8,602 dengue patients, including 2,683 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.
So far, the DGHS has recorded 228,779 dengue cases and 219,068 recoveries this year.
September has so far been the deadliest month for the dengue outbreak this year with 396 fatalities and 79,598 cases, according to DGHS data.
The country has reported 120 fatalities and 25,373 dengue cases on the first 10 days of October.
The authorities have recorded the highest number of dengue positive cases outside Dhaka in August this year, meaning the mosquito disease gripped the entire country.
August witnessed 71,976 dengue positive cases, the highest cases in a single month since dengue outbreak began in 2000 in the country, while 342 dengue-related deaths were reported in the current month, the DGHS statement said.
According to the health experts, the vector-borne disease hit Dhaka city in 2000 subsequently the dengue positive cases were detected in Dhaka city only.
But the dengue disease is changing its nature and it is gradually spreading across the country, they said, adding: “All 64 districts of the country have witnessed positive dengue cases.”
July alone recorded 43,854 dengue positive cases with 204 deaths, the DGHS statement read.
As of October 1, the authorities recorded 79, 598 dengue positive cases while 316 deaths from the mosquito-borne disease during the same period.
The prevalence of dengue cases in Bangladesh has increased ten times since last year and the deaths have increased almost thrice, according to a health expert.
“Dengue positive cases have increased ten times and death three times between mid-September, 2022 and mid-September, 2023,” Professor Dr. Md Golam Sharower, Head, Department of Entomology, National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM) told a seminar recently.
While presenting the keynote paper, Sharower explained that with global warming, our country’s environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity and rainfall are increasing, all of which play a key role in increasing the reproductive capacity of the Aedes mosquito.
He said there are unplanned urbanization, industrialization and ancillary activities such as construction of multi-storied buildings blocking waterways, dumping old cars and turning cities into mosquito sanctuaries.
The morphological, biological and behavioral changes that have occurred in Aedes mosquitoes as a result of all our unknown activities in mosquito breeding are highly favorable for Aedes mosquitoes to transmit dengue virus, he elaborated.
According to the DGHS, Bangladesh reported 1,01,354 dengue cases, the second highest since dengue cases were detected in 2000, in 2019, 1,405 cases in 2020, 28,429 cases in 2021 and 62,382 cases in 2022.
It also added that Bangladesh recorded 179 dengue related deaths in 2019, seven deaths in 2020, 105 deaths in 2021 and 281 deaths, the second highest deaths, in 2022.
