Dengue outbreak continues, two die in Chattogram, Kushita

Two people, including a teenage girl, died of dengue while 314 people were hospitalised after being infected with the mosquito born disease across the country in the last 24 hours on Sunday, reports UNB.

Of the total patients, 73 people were hospitalised in Dhaka while 241 in other parts of the country.

In Chattogram, a teenage girl died of the mosquito-borne disease at a private hospital on Saturday night.

The deceased was Sumi Boidya, 19, daughter of Sunil Boidya of Khulshi. Her younger brother has also been hospitalised with dengue.

Civil surgeon Azizur Rahman Siddique visited Sumi at National Hospital and her brother Arup Boidya, 16, at the Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

Rahman said Sumi was suffering from dengue shock syndrome. “We heard about her death around 8:00pm after we had visited her,” he said.

Sumi was initially treated at home and took medicine from her father’s pharmacy. “She might have survived if she was given proper treatment from the beginning,” the physician said.

Arup is doing better and is expected to make a full recovery soon, he said.

In Kushita, a young man died of dengue while undergoing treatment at Kushita General Hospital early Sunday.

The deceased was Shamim Biswas, 25, son of Rafiqul Biswas of Doulatpur upazila.

Nurunnahar, supervisor of Kushtia General Hospital, said Shamim got admitted to Daultapur upazila health complex with dengue fever.

Later, he was shifted to Kushtia General Hospital on Thursday where he died around 1:30am, she said.

Four people have so far died of dengue in the district.

Dengue fever usually causes severe flu-like symptoms, including high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pain, and a characteristic skin rash.

Although there is no specific treatment for dengue, early detection and access to proper medical care lowers fatality rates below one per cent, WHO says.

Bangladesh has been hit hard by a massive dengue outbreak this year like some other Southeast Asian countries. But the situation started improving in recent weeks.

Since January 89,930 people were hospitalised with dengue, most of them in Dhaka. Of them, 88, 356 went home after full recovery.

Currently, 1,338 dengue patients, including 470 in Dhaka, are being treated at hospitals while the rest 868 in other parts of the country, the government said.

The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research received reports of 236 dengue-related deaths since the beginning of this year. It has reviewed 136 cases so far and confirmed 81 people had died of dengue.