48 more dengue patients admitted in hospitals

The recent spike in dengue cases has added to the worries as the country continues to grapple with the devastating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.  

Some 179 patients diagnosed with dengue are currently receiving treatment at different government and private hospitals across the country as of Saturday morning, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Of them, one patient is receiving treatment at a hospital outside Dhaka. All the new patients were reported to have admitted to different hospitals in Dhaka, and no one was said to be hospitalized outside Dhaka during the period.

So far, 673 patients have been admitted to different hospitals with dengue since January and 494 of them have been released after recovery.  The DGHS reported 1,193 dengue cases and three confirmed dengue-related deaths in 2020. According to official figures, 101,354 dengue cases and 179 deaths were recorded in Bangladesh in 2019.

Dengue fever was first reported in Bangladesh in 2000 when it claimed 93 lives. In the following three years, the fatalities almost fell to zero.

However, the mosquito-borne viral infection struck again in 2018, killing 26, and infecting 10,148 people.

Health experts have, since the outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2020, repeatedly warned the government to be proactive in preventing the spread of dengue fever as it would doubly burden a health system already under considerable strain. It, however, appears that the government has not acted on the warning and has failed to put in place any comprehensive mechanism to effectively prevent, or, at least contain, the dengue infection.

The failure of the government in successfully addressing the issue is apparent in the findings of a number of studies and surveys carried out in the aftermath of the 2019 dengue outbreak. A recent survey conducted by the Directorate General of Health Services found Aedes larvae in 207 out of the 1,012 structures surveyed, which means that Aedes larvae was found in a fifth of the structures surveyed in the capital.

In May, the National Malaria Elimination and Aedes Transmitted Disease Control Programme of the DGHS identified four areas to be particularly vulnerable, which include Lalmatia, Mohammadpur, Sayedabad and North Jatrabari, and under construction sites to be the main breeding ground for the vector mosquito. Yet another government survey conducted in December 2019 and published in early 2020 found the presence of Aedes mosquito in 95 per cent areas in Dhaka even in the lean season of winter.