THOUGH the dengue hospitalisation rate declined in the last couple of days, the health experts apprehend that there was no reason to be very happy right now. There is a possibility of dengue infection rising again until October, when post monsoon season ends. Usually, the dengue infection occurs with the advent of monsoon together humid weather which favour breeding the aedes mosquito, the vector for the deadly dengue virus. Monsoon spans June to September and the post monsoon season ends in October in Bangladesh. The rainfall might be more in September than it was in August across the country. Echoing the same, Director of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora said that dengue infection usually continue until October, the post monsoon season in our country.
According to the Health Emergency Operation Centre and Control Room, at least 71,962 patients were hospitalised across the country since January. Newspaper reports said at least 1,446 patients were hospitalised on August 23, and around 1, 200 per day in the next week. On August 30, dengue patient hospitalisation rate fell to 1,025, but in the next two days 760 and 902 patients were hospitalised and on Monday 865 were hospitalised. The Health Services Control Room so far received reports of 188 suspected dengue deaths. But according to unofficial count, dengue claimed many more lives this year.
It’s a good news that the decrease of dengue infection rate happened due to all-out efforts made by residents and the civic authorities to keep aedes mosquito at bay. Though it’s a belated effort, the two city corporations in Dhaka have taken massive programmes to eliminate the larva of dengue mosquitoes. For that reason, both the DCCs have fined a number of business farms and residential units for finding existence of larva.
The Ministry of Health and other related departments must take cautionary steps so that dengue cannot return with its full force again, in the post monsoon season. We must say prevention is better than cure. It needs a central monitoring system to see whether the preventive measures are taken appropriately throughout the country to check the dengue epidemic.
