No respite from dengue despite winter nearing
Staff Reporter :
There seems to be no let down in dengue cases in the country despite nearing winter season.
With 1,889 cases reported during the past 24-hour period, the tally of dengue cases has now reached 252,990 in the current year so far, according to the Health Directorate.
Besides, some 20 people have succumbed to dengue fever in the last 24 hours until 8:00 am on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 1,246.
Of the fresh deaths, 10 have been reported from the capital city, while the remaining 10 from outside Dhaka.
An alarming 257 deaths have been recorded in the 21 days of the current month amid the worst outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease.
A total of 252,990 people have been hospitalised with dengue fever in the current year so far.
The hospitals across Bangladesh were treating 8,144 patients for dengue fever till Saturday morning, and 2,341 of them were in the capital.
After a record 79,598 dengue cases and 396 deaths from the disease in September, as many as 49,584 cases and 257 deaths have been recorded so far in October.
Experts have blamed a prolonged monsoon and rising temperature, along with a lack of effective measures to kill the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the known carrier of the virus, for the outbreak.
They also said dengue fever is a viral illness which is acquired through a mosquito bite. People should clear areas where there is an accumulation of water in their homes as well as the neighbourhood.
Fogging drives are being carried out across the Dhaka city. Fever surveillance is underway to detect cases at the earliest so that proper treatment can be initiated in time.
The health department has already mapped hotspots in the city which have reported a large number of dengue cases and corrective measures are being initiated.
However, the Health Directorate earlier said that the worsening dengue situation would not give any respite until the temperature falls as dengue manifestation is linked with local and global temperatures.
“This is autumn but still we don’t see any sign of temperature fall while monsoon rains are pouring across the country.
This situation may not be improved until the weather turns cool as the weather is linked to the dengue manifestation and breeding,” Prof Dr. Ahmedul Kabir, a Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said.
He made the comments at the monsoon Aedes survey disclosure event recently.
The DGHS conducted the 10-day survey from August 25 to September 3 to determine the prevalence of aedes species and to find out the frequency of potential and probable breeding sources and their productivity in different types of houses.
Total 3,150 households were visited in 99 wards of the DNCC and DSCC area during the survey.
A total of 657 houses were found positive (aedes larva Containing house) and 845 containers were positive (aedes larva containing container) and a total of 3,396 wet containers were found during the 10 days survey of Dhaka City.
