A minimum of 1,017 die and almost 209,000 are contaminated, making 2023 the deadliest yr because the first recorded epidemic in 2000.
Greater than 1,000 folks in Bangladesh have died of dengue fever this yr, official information exhibits – almost 4 occasions greater than in the entire of final yr.
A minimum of 1,017 folks have died within the first 9 months of 2023 and almost 209,000 have change into contaminated, making it the nation’s worst recorded outbreak of the mosquito-borne illness because the first tallied epidemic in 2000. Among the many lifeless are 112 kids aged 15 and below, together with infants.
Hospitals in Bangladesh are struggling to create space 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 fevers, complications, nausea, vomiting, muscle ache and, in probably the most severe circumstances, bleeding that may result in loss of life.
The World Well being Group (WHO) has warned that dengue and different illnesses brought on by mosquito-borne viruses, reminiscent of chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika, are spreading sooner and additional as a consequence of local weather change.
There isn’t a vaccine or drug that particularly treats dengue, which is frequent in South Asia throughout the June-to-September monsoon season because the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads the illness thrives in stagnant water.
Nonetheless, in recent times, hospitals in Bangladesh have additionally begun to confess sufferers affected by the illness throughout winter months. These with repeat infections are at better danger of issues.
Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, a health care provider at Dhaka’s Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical School and Hospital, stated most sufferers admitted at his hospital have been struggling their second or third circumstances of dengue.
“When folks have dengue for the second, third or fourth time, the severity is elevated. The variety of deaths are additionally increased,” he advised AFP information company.
“Many are coming to us when it’s already late of their sickness,” he stated. “Then it’s actually sophisticated to deal with them.”
Bangladesh has recorded circumstances of dengue from the Nineteen Sixties, however documented its first outbreak of dengue haemorrhagic fever, a extreme and generally deadly symptom of the illness, in 2000.
The virus that causes the illness is now endemic to Bangladesh, which has seen a pattern of worsening outbreaks because the flip of the century.
The surge in circumstances has prompted the federal government to step up its anti-dengue marketing campaign, from elevating consciousness to efforts to kill mosquito larvae following a spell of rains, officers stated.
Nonetheless, an absence of correct prevention measures has allowed the dengue-carrying mosquito to unfold throughout Bangladesh, stated Kabirul Bashar, an entomologist and zoology professor at Jahangirnagar College.
“From 2000 to 2018, dengue solely occurred in Dhaka metropolis, however in 2019 it transferred to completely different cities. This yr it transferred into the agricultural areas additionally.”
