Dhaka: Due to the influence of monsoon, it has been raining intermittently in various parts of the country for the past few days. Water is accumulating here and there. Dengue mosquitoes breed rapidly in these accumulated water. Experts believe that there is a possibility of Aedes mosquito breeding if water drainage is not done immediately.
163 people died of dengue in the last 9 months of this year. During this time 30 thousand 938 people were affected. Among them, 80 people died due to dengue in the month of September. 18 thousand 97 people were diagnosed with dengue in that month alone.
Experts say, compared to August-September, the prevalence of Aedes mosquito-borne disease will increase in October. Because of this, dengue outbreak can become severe if no effective action is taken quickly.
Jahangirnagar University (JU) zoology department professor and entomologist Dr. Kabirul Bashar told Barta24.com, "We thought earlier that the dengue outbreak may increase in September-October compared to July-August. Now that's happening!
Due to the change in the country's climate, the type of dengue has also changed, he said, earlier the Aedes mosquito that carries the dengue virus was breeding in clean water, but now it is breeding in all types of water. As a result, the number of dengue patients is also increasing day by day.
Doctor and public health expert said that dengue outbreak may increase in October. Dr. Lelin Chowdhury told Barta24.com that dengue increases only when dengue-carrying Aedes mosquitoes have a suitable environment for breeding and living.
Dr. Lelin said, monsoon (rain) has come late in Bangladesh this time. It is still raining non-stop, the water is accumulating. As a result, dengue breeding ground is created. Dengue patients are increasing. The dengue situation can be worse in October than in September.
As the reason for the increase in dengue outbreak, he said that the activities that have been carried out to prevent dengue have recently become useless due to the political change. As a result, the activities of the local government to eradicate mosquitoes are not visible.
According to the information provided by the Health Emergency Operation Center and Control Room of the Health Directorate, the highest number of dengue deaths occurred in September in the nine months of this year. In September, 80 people died due to dengue. At the same time, 18 thousand 97 people were admitted to the hospital due to dengue.
On the other hand, 6 thousand 521 people were diagnosed with dengue in the month of August. 27 people died of dengue that month. And in July, dengue was detected in 2 thousand 669 people and 12 people died.
Meanwhile, compared to the previous months this year, the pressure of dengue patients in different hospitals of the capital, including Dhaka Medical College (DMCH) Hospital and Mugda Medical College Hospital, increased in September.
Dhaka Medical College (DMCH) authorities said that although the number of patients suffering from dengue has not been high in the past months, the number of people suffering from Aedes mosquito-borne disease has increased since the beginning of September. Most of the admitted patients are in the age group of 20 to 40 years. Among the dengue patients, the number of people from Lalbagh, Kamrangirchar, Savar in Dhaka is high.
Apart from this, patients from different parts of the country including Narayanganj have come to DMCH Hospital for treatment.
According to the data provided by the Directorate of Health, 63 percent of the patients hospitalized with dengue from January 1 to September 30 this year were men and 37 percent were women.
Besides, 50.9 percent of women and 49.1 percent of men died of dengue. That is, the death rate of women due to dengue is higher than that of men.
Director of Mugda Medical College Hospital in the capital Dr. SM Hasibul Islam said that the number of dengue patients is increasing day by day. Last September, the number of dengue patients in Mugda Hospital was 3 thousand 270. 8 people died of dengue. Compared to that, this number may increase in October.
Doctors and experts believe that most of the causes of death due to dengue are the ignorance of the patients.
They said that many dengue patients consider the disease to be normal and buy medicine from the local pharmacy. When the patient's condition becomes critical, they are admitted to the hospital. As a result, they are plummeting towards death. If they had consulted a specialist doctor soon after the initial symptoms of dengue, this situation would not have happened to them.
Dr. Hasibul Islam said, I would suggest that if someone has stomach ache, body ache or fever, then do not take any medicine from your pharmacy. Get treatment at the hospital quickly. If not come to hospital, then at least see an MBBS doctor, get advice. Dengue patients usually do not require admission. You can get well from home with doctor's advice.
Concerned people are blaming the government for not taking proper initiative and local government institutions (city corporation, pourashava) in fulfilling their responsibilities for the increase in dengue infection.
Mugda hospital director Dr Hasibul Islam said, the situation in Mugda region is even fragile. There is always water. The City Corporation people are now absent. Not much work. I have not seen any of their activities for the past one month. As a result dengue is increasing, mosquitoes are also increasing.
He also said, meanwhile, the rain is not stopping, it is raining intermittently. Even if it rained continuously, dengue could not spread so much. In front of our hospital for the last two years there has been knee-deep water. No one is paying attention to this. No one can expect that dengue will decrease in so many problems.
The number of dengue patients in hospitals is much higher than other patients. They come to the doctor only when the patient's condition is worse. As a result, many patients die within 24 hours of admission.
Experts say dengue infections have increased over the past few years, but due to lack of proper measures, dengue has become more dangerous. Earlier, dengue was concentrated in the capital, but now it has spread throughout the country.
In this context, Dr. Kabirul Bashar said, almost every district town of Bangladesh now has Aedes mosquitoes. Dengue infection is seen more in various districts outside Dhaka including Chattogram, Chandpur, Barguna, Pirojpur, Bhola. When a patient infected from Dhaka goes to stay in other districts, the dengue disease can also spread because of that.
He said that earlier the outbreak of dengue was more common in the rainy season, but now people are affected by dengue throughout the year. If water accumulates somewhere, this mosquito can lay eggs there and breed if it touches the water. Therefore, the surroundings of the house should be kept clean. Water should not be allowed to collect in any type of container, big or small. Because, if there is water, Aedes mosquitoes can breed there.
According to the information about dengue from the Directorate of Health, in 2000, there was a large outbreak of dengue caused by the Aedes mosquito in the country. 93 people died that year. Since then every year dengue patients have been found in the country.
In the year 2023, 1 thousand 705 people died due to dengue in the country. That year 3 lakh 21 thousand 179 dengue patients were admitted to the hospital and received treatment. Besides, 281 people died in 2022. 179 people died in 2019, 7 people died in 2020 and 105 people died in 2021.
Talking to the patients and their relatives, they feel that hospitalization costs a lot. Because of this fear, they are not interested in coming to the hospital in the beginning.
As a result, it can be seen that 2 to 3 people of some families are infected with dengue and admitted to the hospital. More than lakhs of money have been spent on their treatment. They are struggling to meet these expenses. They also think that the government should take appropriate steps to get rid of this terrible condition of dengue.
Deputy director of TB hospital with 250 beds. Ayesha Akhtar told Barta24.com that once Aedes mosquito bite early in the morning or during the day, but now it can attack at any time of 24 hours. So, always use mosquito nets, coils, sprays. Also, if someone in the family is infected with dengue fever, a doctor should be consulted immediately.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Local Government has formed two expert committees in Dhaka North City and South City Corporation on Monday (September 30) to prevent dengue.
In this regard, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Chief Health Officer Dr. Fazle Shamsul Kabir told Barta24.com that he received the letter regarding the formation of the committee. We will have a meeting with our team soon to decide on the next course of action. We will take advice from them. We will start working accordingly very soon.
Dr. Kabir asked about the ongoing activities of DSCC to prevent dengue and said that our mosquito eradication program has been going on since the beginning of January. From 15th July we have started full operational monitoring through control room. Activities are still going on in each of our wards. We conducted more than 100 combing operations in three months of July, August and September.
Apart from this, our other cleaning activities are ongoing. Our mosquito eradication program is being conducted daily.
Experts and health experts say that the dengue outbreak is increasing as a result of stagnation of mosquito control activities, lack of regular activities and lack of awareness among people.
The spread of dengue is more common in the country from June-July to December. Therefore, health experts advised to be careful during this time.
Dengue control entomologist Dr. Kabirul Bashar told Barta24.com that those who work to control dengue, they will select dengue high risk areas or 'hot zones' by taking the addresses of dengue patients and dengue control will be easier if dengue eradication activities are carried out in those places.
He also said that in Kolkata, India, our neighboring country, they hold every house and conduct activities to control dengue. If dengue can be controlled by targeting the areas where there is an outbreak of dengue in our country, then dengue will come under control.
Public health expert Dr. Lelin Chowdhury informed about what to do to prevent dengue. He said that no national program has been formulated yet to control dengue and Aedes mosquitoes.
To protect against Aedes mosquito-borne disease, a national program should be formulated in which the central government, local government and the public can be involved in mosquito control activities across the country.