Mentioning that creating awareness on dengue among the public is a must, Chief of Army Staff General S M Shafiuddin Ahmed has said that due to the lack of awareness, dengue outbreak and fatalities are both increasing at an alarming rate across the country. The army chief said this while inaugurating the Dengue Eradication Campaign at Dhaka Cantonment on Sunday. Read: Stay united to face any threats: Army Chief In his directional speech, General Shafiuddin emphasized awareness and directed to take necessary measures to eliminate dengue in all cantonments including Dhaka.

The gradual increase in dengue infection has created panic among the residents of Dhaka city. Hospitals are failing to cope with the pressure of dengue patients despite setting up new wards. Patients are dying within just three days of getting admitted to hospitals. A total of 89 people have died of dengue till October 15 this year. Doctors of Dhaka Shishu Hospital said that 119 children have been admitted with the disease in the first 12 days of this month. While visiting various hospitals in the city, UNB saw that people were lying on the floors due to a lack of hospital beds. Doctors and health experts say that measures taken by the city corporations and other authorities are not proving to be effective. The publicity and drives carried out by the authorities to destroy larvae of Aedes mosquito, the carrier of the dengue virus, are appearing to be inadequate. Read: DSCC to launch special five-day anti-dengue drive Sunday in five wards “Creating awareness among the public is a must to rein in the dengue menace. We’ve taken various steps in this regard,” Prof Dr Ahmedul Kabir, Additional Director General (Additional DG) of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), told UNB. “Most of the casualties from dengue are happening outside Dhaka city. People aged between 40-50 years are the worst victim of this disease. It’s taking only three days for dengue patients to die from this disease,” Kabir added. Public health expert Dr Mohammad Abdus Sabur Khan said that although dengue intensity usually decreases in September, but this time the situation has reversed. Read:Dengue: Fatality rate far exceeds year of deadliest outbreak “It’s October now, but dengue is showing no sign of retreating. It seems like dengue will prevail till mid-November this time,” Khan said. Khan added that the under-construction buildings are the primary breeding grounds of Aedes mosquito. “City corporations are conducting drives at people’s houses. But the construction sites are always covered by fences. As a result, the authorities can’t reach these places and thus the dengue menace goes on unabated,” added Khan. Read 506 new Dengue patients hospitalised Dr Nazmul Islam, Director of Disease Control Department of DGHS, described the activities that his institution was carrying out to prevent dengue. “We do two things. Firstly, we prepare the hospitals for dengue treatment by keeping the doctors and the health care workers updated through training. Secondly, we conduct surveys in the two city corporations of Dhaka and submit the report to the local government authorities. According to our survey this year, the dengue epidemic has hit both the south and the north equally,” Nazmul said. Nazmul added that dengue infection increases when the number of mosquitoes rises. He termed the current measures taken up by the authorities as a loss project as the breeding grounds of the Aedes mosquitoes still exist.  Read Dengue claims 55 lives since June 21: DGHS According to the DGHS, a total of 24,326 people have been affected with dengue till October 15 of this year, while the number was 28,429 in 2021. The highest number of people infected by dengue was in 2019, when a staggering 1,01,354 people were infected with the virus. The same goes for mortality caused by dengue. In 2019, a record 179 people had died of dengue, while the figure has been 89 to date this year. Read Dengue death toll rises to 63 with two more deaths: DGHS Dr ABM Abdullah, an Emeritus Professor and the personal physician of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, provided some guidelines to fight dengue. “First of all, if anyone is infected with dengue, he has to consult a doctor and start taking medicines according to the prescription. Some people tend to think that a mild fever won’t do any harm. This line of thinking must be discarded. People suffering from fever must test themselves, and if dengue is identified in someone, he has to be admitted in hospitals immediately,” Abdullah said.  Selim Reza, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), claimed that they’re conducting drives to weed out dengue from localities, although he couldn’t justify why they’re being unable to conduct drives at construction sites. Read Why do Mosquitoes bite me so much? Farid Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), said that they’ve fined numerous building owners for not cleaning stale water, the place where Aedes mosquitoes lay eggs. “Mass awareness is necessary to fight Dengue. If the people are aware then Dengue won’t be able to do any harm,” Farid said.

Several national laws, such as the Pesticide Act 2018 and the City Corporation Act 2009, need to be revised to tackle the dengue menace, Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury, chairman of the Center of Governance Studies (CGS) and entomologist, said Saturday. International guidelines such as those provided by the international health regulations (IHR) and the World Health Organisation recommendations can be ratified in Bangladesh to expedite the fight against yearly dengue outbreaks, he said. Read: Dengue: 2 more die, 232 new patients hospitalized Also, he stressed the importance of a properly integrated vector management system in Bangladesh and the need for a proper institution to handle this. Manjur was addressing the seminar "Problems in Mosquito Control in the City: An Outline of Sustainable Solutions," hosted by the Center of Governance Studies (CGS) in the capital. This year's rise in dengue infections compared to 2020 happened due to the delay of taking proper preventive measures as soon as the rainy season started in Bangladesh, said Touhid Uddin Ahmed, a former principal scientific officer at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR). As no work was done to identify hotspots of dengue infections, and to target adult Aedes mosquitoes, it contributed to the rapid spread of the dengue outbreak, he said. Read: Keep the dengue mementoes in city museum, demand Jurain residents in unique protest "Data shows alarming rates of increase in dengue infections in both the cities and rural areas of Bangladesh. The reason for this unchecked yearly rise in the dengue epidemic is due to the lack of a national goal set by the government; lack of policies related to mosquito control, guidance among the citizens to handle the epidemic, and a viable plan to deal with the vectors of transmission, namely adult Aedes mosquitoes," he added. Dr GM Saifur Rahman, a medical entomologist and a faculty member of the National University, said: "The life cycle of Aedes mosquitoes is around six to eight days. So a routine weekly cleaning regiment needs to be implemented nationwide to clear out water from places that gather water during rain." He also said dengue fever incubates inside the body for four to seven days before symptoms show, so one does not get sick immediately when mosquitoes bite them.

Ten more people were diagnosed with dengue in the past 24 hours until Thursday morning, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Fourteen new dengue cases were reported in 24 hours till Friday morning, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The health authorities on Friday announced the detection of one new dengue case in the past 24 hours.

Dhaka, May 15 (UNB) - No new dengue case was reported  in the last 24 hours till 8am on Friday, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).   Currently, two dengue patients are being treated at a hospital, according to a daily update from DGHS.   Since the beginning of this year, 301 dengue cases were reported and of them 299 patients have been discharged.   Bangladesh experienced a massive dengue outbreak last year when 101,354 people were hospitalised. Of them, 101,037 made full recovery.   According to official figures, the mosquito-borne disease killed 179 people in 2019.   Anti-mosquito drives are being conducted from May 10 in the capital while DNCC has also launched free dengue tests from May 11.   As the country struggles to contain the spread of coronavirus, a dengue outbreak at this time will be devastating and would pose a serious challenge to the country’s health care system.

The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) operated eight mobile courts on Tuesday as part of its anti-mosquito drive to destroy the breeding grounds of Aedes mosquitoes, responsible for dengue and Chikungunya.

The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) is going to launch free dengue tests from May 11.

One new dengue case was reported in the last 24 hours till 8am on Tuesday, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).