At least 804 people have died from dengue in Bangladesh this year, according to data released on Saturday by the country’s Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
This year, the DGHS recorded 164,562 dengue cases, of which 153,428 have recovered, according to local English newspaper Dhaka Tribune.
A total of 10,330 patients, including 4,208 in the capital Dhaka, are currently receiving treatment in different hospitals.
The previous highest number of deaths was recorded in 2022, when 281 people died throughout the year.
Dengue is common in tropical areas and causes high fevers, headaches, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain and, in the most severe cases, internal bleeding leading to death.
On Thursday, Mohammed Niatuzzaman, director of the state-run Mugda Medical College hospital in Dhaka, warned that Bangladesh is struggling to cope with the outbreak due to the lack of a “sustainable policy” and because many do not know how to combat it.
Outside the capital and other large cities, medical professionals, including nurses, need better training to deal with dengue cases, he stressed.
The World Health Organization recently warned that diseases such as dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever, caused by mosquito-borne viruses, are spreading faster and further due to climate change.
Source: TSF
