Abu Sazzad :
A sudden rise in Dengue patients is prompting fears of an outbreak of the viral disease in Dhaka and Chittagong, according to Health officials. The number of Dengue patients has suddenly gone up due to the continuous waterlogging in the cities.
Actually, Dengue, transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, is associated with monsoon rains, usually from July to September. However, officials said they have seen a greater number of cases at hospitals and clinics this year compared to previous years. A senior official of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said, “We don’t have any concrete figures of the exact number of patients, but reports from the public and private hospitals and clinics suggest that the number of Dengue patients has been on the rise since Eid-ul-Fitr.”
It is very surprising that the City Corporations and other related agencies appear to be helpless. These bodies are now acting as mere silent witness. Although, the Mayors of Dhaka and Chittagong City Corporations before election had promised to free these cities from waterlogging caused by rains.
As rains continue to fall intermittently, the problem has become more exacerbated.
Each waterlogged area is a potential breeding ground of mosquitoes that cause Dengue fever.
NGO workers said that the number of people with dengue is higher in the city’s congested slums, where there is poor sanitation, and few can afford medical treatment.
In the slums of the city, where one third of its population live, many do not even know that they have the disease.
Health official sources said, the situation might worsen in coming days because the hot humid conditions will help breed more mosquitoes.
A dengue outbreak in Bangladesh in 2000 infected over 5,000 people and killed 93, while over 6,000 were infected and 58 killed in 2002, according to WHO figures.
According to physicians, symptoms of dengue include fever, joint pain, nausea and headaches. Dengue haemorrhagic fever, a potentially fatal form which causes internal bleeding and circulatory failure, is most common in children under 15, but it also occurs in adults. Dengue control is primarily depended on the control of the Aedes mosquito.
It is time the Health Ministry drew up a contingency plan to handle a possible dengue epidemic. Dengue epidemic is easily preventable with awareness among the people about the disease and public cooperation in keeping neighbourhoods clean.
