Bangladesh: Over 1,000 dead in massive dengue outbreak

According to government data, the number of fatalities from Bangladesh’s biggest dengue outbreak on record has surpassed 1,000 this year, and hospitals are scrambling to accommodate patients as the disease spreads quickly in the heavily populated nation.

According to the data, 2023 has seen at least 1,017 fatalities and close to 209,000 infections, making it the deadliest year since the outbreak was first noted in 2000.

The current death toll is nearly four times more than the whole of last year, when Bangladesh recorded 281 dengue-related deaths.

Hospitals are struggling to find space for the large number of patients suffering high fever, joint pain and vomiting while there is a shortage of intravenous fluids, health officials said.

“I don’t know how my son was infected … suddenly he became feverish. I rushed him here and then doctors found out that he has dengue,” Sanwar Hossain told Reuters as he watched his son in Mugda General Hospital in the capital Dhaka.

The hospital’s administrator, who goes by the single name Niatuzzaman, stated that although Dhaka patients have declined recently, more people from rural areas of the nation are now being admitted, which he described as a “concerning” indicator.

Due to the Aedes aegypti mosquito’s propensity for breeding in still water and its prevalence in South Asia during the June to September monsoon season, there is no vaccine or medication especially designed to treat dengue.

According to entomologists and epidemiologists, prolonged monsoon seasons and higher temperatures are excellent circumstances for mosquito breeding.

According to officials, the government has increased its anti-dengue campaign in response to the rise in cases, including attempts to raise awareness and eliminate mosquito larvae after a period of rain.

However, according to Kabirul Bashar, an entomologist and professor of biology at Jahangirnagar University, a lack of effective preventative measures has allowed the dengue-carrying mosquito to spread throughout Bangladesh.

“From 2000 to 2018, dengue is only happening in Dhaka city, but in 2019 it is transferred into different cities. This year it is transferred into the rural areas also.”

(With agency inputs)