Dengue hospitalisation in Bangladesh reached a new high in September, with 11,033 patients admitted so far, while deaths in the month climbed to 59, the highest monthly figures this year with eight days of the month remaining.
The Directorate General of Health Services in a regular update on Monday reported that two more patients died of dengue and 678 others were hospitalised in the past 24 hours until 8:00am, raising the official death toll to 181 and total hospitalisation to 42,509 since January.
At a press briefing, the DGHS at its headquarters in the capital Dhaka later in the day, said an analysis of 114 dengue deaths showed that more than half the patients died within 24 hours of hospital admission, and most of the rest died on the second day.
DGHS line director for communicable disease control, professor Halimur Rashid, said that 57 of the 114 deaths reviewed occurred within the first 24 hours of admission, while two-thirds of the remaining patients died on the second day. He said that 56 patients died of shock syndrome and 36 of expanded dengue syndrome. About 40 per cent of the deceased had comorbidities.
鈥楨arlier, most patients died of haemorrhage. Now shock syndrome has emerged as the leading cause,鈥� he said, adding that most patients came to hospitals on the fourth to sixth day of infection instead of the early stage.
DGHS director general professor Abu Jafar urged people to seek treatment before the disease turns complicated. 鈥楶ublic awareness is the key to reducing dengue sufferings,鈥� he said.
By age group, the highest number of deaths this year occurred among patients aged 20鈥�30 years, followed by children under 10.
DGHS data show dengue killed 10 people in January, three in February, seven in April, three in May, 19 in June, 41 in July and 39 in August. No deaths were reported in March.
Monthly hospitalisation figures show 1,161 cases in January, 374 in February, 336 in March, 701 in April, 1,773 in May, 5,951 in June, 10,684 in July and 10,496 in August.
Public health experts have repeatedly warned that without stronger mosquito-control drives, improved data collection and better-equipped hospitals, dengue deaths and hospitalisation are likely to rise further.
Bangladesh has faced recurring outbreaks since its first official one in 2000, when 93 people died and 5,551 were hospitalised. The situation has worsened sharply in recent years, with dengue claiming 1,705 lives and hospitalising 3,21,179 patients in 2023 alone 鈥� compared with 853 deaths and 2,44,246 hospitalisation recorded in the entire period between 2000 and 2022.
Past year too, the country faced a severe wave, with 575 deaths and 1,01,214 cases.
Experts now fear Bangladesh is entering yet another prolonged season of high dengue transmission, fuelled by climate variability, unchecked urbanisation and weak mosquito-control measures.
