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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) – Bangladesh is facing the worst dengue epidemic ever, with hospitals flooding patients, straining the country's already overflowing medical system.
Mosquito-borne viral infection has spread throughout the country, with 61 out of 64 districts reporting dengue fever by the end of Tuesday.
The government has confirmed 15,369 dengue cases since 1 January. Of these, 9,683 patients were diagnosed between July 1st and 30th. Approximately 4,400 patients, many of them children, were hospitalized. There were 14 dead.
Officials in Dhaka, the overcrowded megacity that is the epicenter of the epidemic, have struggled to contain it, drawing criticism and sowing panic among some residents.
Dengue occurs in tropical regions around the world and is transmitted by a type of mosquito that lives mainly in urban areas. The virus causes severe flu-like symptoms and, in the absence of a specific treatment, medical care aimed at maintaining a person's fluid levels are considered essential.
It is feared that the situation in the countryside will deteriorate, with many residents of the city going to villages to celebrate Eid-ul-Adha next month. Infected humans can be a source of viruses for uninfected mosquitoes.
Ayesha Akhter, deputy director of the Health Services Branch of the Ministry of Health, said a dengue epidemic has been accompanying each monsoon since 2000, but that the situation is worse this year.
A DGHS study identified a sixfold increase in the population of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in four months in Dhaka as the leading cause of hatching of a size above average.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the dengue situation in Bangladesh was "alarming but not out of control".
Other Asian countries are also facing a resurgence of dengue cases this year, particularly in Thailand, where 53,699 cases and 65 deaths were reported as of 23 July.
Nevertheless, with the increase in the number of dengue cases in recent weeks, Dhaka hospitals have run out of room and manpower to treat new patients.
Professor Abul Kalam Azad, Director General of the DGSS, said that they had asked hospitals to increase the number of beds for dengue patients and open treatment rooms for the dengue. The government has also cut diagnostic costs for dengue in half and ordered public and private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers to do the same.
Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the country's largest hospital, has opened a special service for dengue patients, said A.K.M. Nasir Uddin, its managing director.
Professor Uttam Kumar Barua, director of the Medical College and Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital, another large public hospital in Dhaka, said they were relying on high-level medical students to badist doctors in dealing with so many patients.
Barua said that they admitted all dengue patients who entered the hospital but could not provide beds or even seats to everyone, adding that many had been asked to wait in the hallways and the verandas of the hospital.
Abul Kalam, a rickshaw shooter, said that it was very difficult to have his 4-year-old boy admitted to the DMCH.
"My boy is recovering quickly, the doctors are taking care of him," he said.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is currently in London for an official visit, called on Tuesday for concerted efforts to fight the disease.
"The government is working to fight dengue," she said at an emergency meeting bringing her ruling party, the Awami League, to London, during a teleconference.
"I urge everyone to keep their homes and surrounding areas clean.This will save us from the disease," she said.
Opposition parties and urban planning experts in the country have blamed the lack of preparedness of central and local authorities for the resurgence of dengue cases. People went to Facebook to express their anger at the inability of city authorities to control mosquito vectors of dengue fever.
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