81 more dengue patients detected

Amid a rise in the number of dengue patients, health authorities reported 81 more new cases in 24 hours until Saturday morning. Some 336 patients diagnosed with dengue are receiving treatment at different government and private hospitals in the country as of Saturday morning, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Of them, 331 patients are at different hospitals in Dhaka city and five others outside the capital.

Some 1,139 patients have been admitted to different hospitals with dengue since January and 801 of them released after recovery.

The recent spike in dengue cases has added to the worries as the country continues to grapple with the devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ongoing drives will continue in Dhaka South City Corporation areas to control dengue, said its mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh on Wednesday.

He said this while exchanging views with journalists after inaugurating an interim waste disposal centre at the Tantibazar intersection in Ward 36 of the city.

“Dengue situation is now under control, although the number of dengue patients is a bit more this time due to heavy rainfall,” the mayor said.

The DGHS had 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.

The return of dengue to Dhaka and elsewhere is particularly unwelcome this year, as the capital is still reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic. Bangladesh experienced a massive dengue outbreak in 2019, when 101,354 people were hospitalized. The Aedes mosquito-borne disease killed 179 people last year, as revealed by data from the Health Emergency Operations Centre & Control Room of the DGHS.

What experts say

Eminent virologist Prof Dr Nazrul Islam said, “You have to kill mosquitoes to prevent dengue infection and you have to wear a mask to avoid coronavirus. These are two completely different things. There is a possibility of a catastrophic crisis in the hospitals if dengue rises amid the pandemic.”

Dr Md Robed Amin, line director of the DGHS Non-Communicable Disease Control (NCDC) unit, said there were few dengue patients from January to May, but the rate at which dengue was spreading had led to a doubling of the numbers of those infected since June.

“It has been raining for the last few days. This will continue from April to October. During this time, dengue cases increase. Outbreaks of dengue increased at this time in 2019 as well. Although there was no such outbreak last year, the number of patients is increasing again this year,” he said. 

He urged everyone to ensure that water did not pool and become stagnant in or around their homes.