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| A nurse provides treatment to a dengue patient at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 26 July 2023 |
Abu Hasan (pseudonym) lives in Deen Mohammad Colony in the capital’s Bhasantek. He had to spend October dealing with dengue patients after his sister, sister-in-law and maidservant were diagnosed with the mosquito-borne disease, and one of the patients required an intensive care unit (ICU) facility.
“I spent the entire month with patients and hospitals. Time, money and fear; altogether it was a miserable time. We were worried about our children,” Abu Hasan shared his experience with Prothom Alo.
Dengue showed no sign of restraint in November with the first seven days of the month seeing the highest number of cases and deaths in a single week this year so far.
Usually, the prevalence of the Aedes mosquito-borne disease drops in November, but this year saw an exception raising concerns among public health experts.
According to a research article published in the US-based Journal of Medical Entomology, dengue deaths and infections were very unusual considering the epidemiological trend of the virus in the country.
Public health experts, physicians and entomologists maintained there is a lack of effective measures for the prevention of dengue infection and the medical system was not overhauled either.
Thirty-seven deaths from dengue and 7,257 cases were reported between 1 and 7 November while 22 deaths and 5,726 cases were reported in the corresponding period of the previous month and 28 deaths and 7,115 cases were recorded in the last week (25-31 October) of the last month.
Usually, dengue cases start dropping in September, but the highest number of infections was recorded in October 2022 and the highest number of deaths in November that year. However, dengue infections fell in November 2022, and that did not happen this year.
Public health expert Mushtaq Ahmed expressed to Prothom Alo that November never saw such a rise in dengue infections and it reached a peak.
This situation may continue for at least 15 days, and if necessary measures are not taken more
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