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Dengue: 9 die, 2,609 hospitalised in 24 hrs


By BSS
Published : 18 Oct 2023 04:17 PM

Nine patients died and 2,609 wereadmitted to different hospitals in the country during the last 24 hours till 8 am Tuesday.

On September 20, Bangladesh witnessed 21 dengue deaths, the highest in a

single day this year, and the nation also saw the same highest figure on

September 2.

"The death toll from dengue infection crossed the 1100-mark as the authorities recorded 1,190 dengue deaths between January 1 and October 16 this year," a press release from the Directorate General of Health Services

(DGHS) said.

"During the period, 561 dengue patients were hospitalised in Dhaka city while

2,048 were admitted to different hospitals outside the capital city," the

DGHS daily statement added.

"This year, 1,190 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 2,44,698 the

statement said, adding: "This year, some 2,35,284 patients were released from

different hospitals out of the total patients."

"A total of 8,224 dengue patients are undergoing treatment at different

hospitals. Of them, 2,410 are in Dhaka while 5814 are outside of the capital

city," it added.

The authorities have recorded the highest number of dengue positive cases

outside the capital in August this year, meaning the mosquito-borne disease

gripped the entire country.

August witnessed 71,976 dengue positive cases, the highest cases in a single

month since 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."

The authorities recorded 79, 598 dengue positive cases in September while 396

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 10 times and death three times between

mid-September, 2022 and mid-September, 2023," Professor Dr. Md Golam

Sharower, head of Department of Entomology, National Institute of Preventive

and Social Medicine (NIPSOM), told a seminar recently.

The morphological, biological and behavioral changes that have occurred in

Aedes mosquitoes as a result of all our unknown activities in mosquito

breeding are highly favorable for Aedes mosquitoes to transmit dengue virus,

he elaborated.

According to the DGHS, Bangladesh reported 1,01,354 dengue cases, the second

highest since dengue cases were detected in 2000, in 2019, 1,405 cases in

2020, 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, 105 deaths in 2021 and 281 deaths, the second highest

deaths, in 2022.