Dengue situation worsening in City

Staff Correspondent: The country’s dengue situation has turned for the worse with an alarming rise in deaths and cases of the mosquito-borne disease.
The health directorate has feared that the dengue situation will deepen further if cases continue to rise.
Health experts have suggested that the dengue out-break may turn into an epidemic if Aedes mosquitoes are not controlled immediately.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said the highest rate of dengue death has been reported this year till July 17 in the last six year.
The report said 0.55 per-cent death was reported till July 17 this year while it was 0.45 percent in 2022, 0.37 percent in 2021, 0.50 percent in 2020, 0.18 per-cent in 2019 and 0.26 per-cent in 2018.
Among the deaths, 41 percent patients were between 18-40 years, 24 percent was between 40-60 years, 12 percent were between 60-80 years and 10 percent were between 10-18 years.
Of the total 114 dengue deaths, 58 percent (66) were female and 42 percent (48) were male.
At the same time, of the total 22,467 dengue infection cases, 50 percent (11,213) were between 18-40 years, 16 percent (3,576) were between 10- 18 years and 16 percent were between 40-60 years.
Of the total dengue patients, 63 percent (14,164) were male while 37 percent (8,303) were female.
The DGHS data said of the total, 65 percent or 14,697 cases were re-ported in the capital and 34 percent or 7,7770 cases were reported outside the Dhaka city.
After Dhaka city, the highest number of cases and death have been reported in Chattogram city and then in Barishal city.
“This year most of the dengue infection cases are secondary infection while a large number of patients are being affected by the DEN 2 serotype of the virus. At the same time, many patients are rushing to hospital lately. These are the main reasons behind increasing the death from the dengue disease,” Prof Dr Ahmedul Kabir, additional director general of the DGHS, told.
DGHS sources said the hospitals in the capital are already have been overwhelmed with the excessive dengue patients as a number of hospitals in Dhaka city have admitted the dengue patients beyond their capacities.
“The number of dengue patients has been increasing day by day at our hospital. We’ve already opened a separate dengue unit to ensure proper treatment of the patients,” Dr Md Khalilur Rahman, director of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, told.
The DGHS data said 1,589 new dengue patients have been admitted to hospitals across the country and eight deaths were reported in the last 24 hours till 8am on Monday.
Currently 5,441 dengue patients are undergoing treatment while 3,347 are in Dhaka city till Monday morning.
The health directorate said 14,489 dengue cases and 67 deaths have been reported in the current month till July 17 while 5,956 cases and 34 deaths were reported in June this year.
Hospital sources said patients from different parts of the capital and other districts are rushing to city hospitals and a large number of them are getting admitted to those with severe symptoms.
Ahmedul Kabir, also a medicine specialist said the dengue patients who are pregnant and carrying co-morbidity have to remain alert and to get admission in the hospital immediately while other dengue patients also have to consult doctor immediately after feeling any symptom.
In a recent death analysis report of the DGHS, it was found that of the dengue deaths, around 80 percent patients died within 1-3 days of their admission to hospitals.
Talking to the Daily Sun, Dr ABM Abdullah, professor emeritus of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), said the instant start of treatment can save the life of dengue patients while delayed treatment worsens the health condition.
“Whenever anyone feels minimum symptom of dengue, the person should consult registered doctors and undergo test for dengue as soon as possible. Patients with symptoms of fever and headache have to take paracetamol and drink plenty of liquids,” he said.
The WHO says there is no specific treatment for dengue and the focus is on treating pain symptoms while previous infection with DENV increases the risk of the individual developing severe dengue.
Mentioning that there are four dengue serotypes – DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4, Prof Dr Tahmina Shirin, director of the IEDCR, said dengue virus serotypes DEN-2 and DEN-3 are dominating Dhaka city.
“An epidemic like dengue situation may be created in the country if Aedes mosquitoes are not controlled right now,” said noted virologist Prof Dr Nazrul Islam, also former vice-chancellor of BSMMU.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Prof Dr ABM Khurshid Alam, director general of the DGHS, feared that the dengue situation will deepen further if deterioration of the situation continued.