Not less than 1,017 folks die and almost 209,000 are contaminated, making 2023 the deadliest yr because the first recorded epidemic in 2000.
In accordance with official knowledge, greater than a thousand folks in Bangladesh have died from dengue this yr – nearly 4 occasions greater than in all of final yr.
Not less than 1,017 folks have died and almost 209,000 have been contaminated within the first 9 months of 2023. This makes this the worst outbreak of the mosquito-borne illness within the nation because the first recorded epidemic in 2000. The deaths embrace 112 kids aged 15 and older. beneath, together with infants.
Hospitals in Bangladesh are struggling to liberate area for sufferers because the illness spreads quickly within the densely populated South Asian nation.
Dengue is a illness endemic to tropical areas and causes excessive fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, muscle ache and, in essentially the most extreme instances, bleeding that may result in loss of life.
The World Well being Group (WHO) has warned that dengue and different ailments brought on by mosquito-borne viruses, equivalent to chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika, are spreading quicker and additional as a result of local weather change.
There isn’t a vaccine or drug that particularly treats dengue, which is frequent in South Asia throughout the monsoon season from June to September, as a result of the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads the illness thrives in standing water.
Nonetheless, lately, hospitals in Bangladesh have additionally began admitting sufferers affected by the illness throughout the winter months. These with repeated infections are at better danger of issues.
Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, a health care provider at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical School and Hospital in Dhaka, mentioned many of the sufferers admitted to his hospital have been affected by their second or third case of dengue.
“When folks have dengue for the second, third or fourth time, the severity will increase. The variety of deaths can also be increased,” he informed AFP information company.
“Many come to us when their sickness is late,” he mentioned. “Then it is extremely difficult to deal with them.”
Bangladesh has recorded instances of dengue because the Nineteen Sixties, however documented its first outbreak of dengue hemorrhagic fever, a severe and typically deadly symptom of the illness, in 2000.
The virus that causes the illness is now endemic in Bangladesh, which has seen a development of worsening outbreaks because the flip of the century.
The rise in instances has prompted the federal government to step up its anti-dengue marketing campaign, from elevating consciousness to efforts to kill mosquito larvae after a spell of rain, officers mentioned.
Nonetheless, an absence of correct prevention measures has allowed the dengue-carrying mosquito to unfold throughout Bangladesh, mentioned Kabirul Bashar, an entomologist and professor of zoology at Jahangirnagar College.
“From 2000 to 2018, dengue solely occurred in Dhaka metropolis, however in 2019 it unfold to a number of cities. This yr it has additionally been transferred to the countryside.”
