17 dengue patients die, 3084 more hospitalised in 24hrs

A total of 17 dengue patients died and 3,084 were admitted to different hospitals in the country during the last 24 hours till 8:00 am on Monday, reports news agency BSS.

On 2 September, Bangladesh recorded 21 dengue-related deaths, the highest number in a single day, this year, while the country reported 20 dengue-linked deaths, the second highest deaths during the current year, on 7 September.

"The death toll from dengue infection crossed the 800-mark as the authorities recorded 839 dengue deaths between 1 January 2023 and 18 September," a press release from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

"During the period, 894 dengue patients were hospitalised in Dhaka city while 2,190 were admitted to different hospitals outside it," the DGHS daily statement added.

"This year, 839 deaths, the highest in a year since dengue was detected in 2000, were reported from dengue disease while 281 died last year," the statement said.

With the new cases, the total number of patients rose to 170,768, the statement said, adding: "This year, some 159,839 patients were released from different hospitals out of the total patients."

"A total of 10,032 dengue patients are undergoing treatment at different hospitals. Of them, 3,861 are in Dhaka while 6,171 are outside of the capital city," it added.

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 the 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 18 September, the authorities recorded 46, 960 dengue positive cases while 246 deaths from the mosquito-borne disease during the same period.

The prevalence of dengue cases in Bangladesh has increased 10 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 urbanisation, industrialisation 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 behavioural changes that have occurred in Aedes mosquitoes as a result of all our unknown activities in mosquito breeding are highly favourable for Aedes mosquitoes to transmit dengue virus, he elaborated.

According to the DGHS, Bangladesh reported 101,354 dengue cases, the second highest since dengue cases were detected in 2000, in 2019, some 1405 cases in 2020, some 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, in 2021 105 deaths and 281 deaths, the second highest deaths, in 2022.