Dengue threat has been minimized due to largely efficient management by the city corporations in the capital as well as cooperation extended by the city dwellers in preventing the breeding of eggs.
The mosquito-borne disease ‘dengue’ situation in the country including the capital Dhaka has gradually been improving over the last few weeks.
Compared to the previous two months of August and September, October has seen a much better scenario.
A total of 2,321 dengue patients have been admitted to the hospital till October 12. But the number was more than 7,000 in August and September, sources of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) say.
Experts say the country is seeing improvement in the situation following the mass mosquito cleaning drives conducted by Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) simultaneously over the last months.
In addition to the measures of DNCC and DSCC, the general mass has taken part spontaneously to check the spread and prevent the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes, responsible for this dreaded disease. They have kept their surroundings neat and tidy, following the awareness campaigns of the two city corporations along with the cleaning drive.
“Usually breeding of Aedes depends on climate and weather which include temperature, humidity, and rain. The two city corporations’ drives to clean surroundings and not letting the mosquito breed massively has been playing a vital role to get us to this phase,” former DGHS Director General Prof Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed told Bangladesh Post.
“As we are approaching the winter, the mosquito breeding is likely to reduce eventually. However, we may have a few more rainy days before winter finally commences. Therefore, the mass community should be engaged in the all-out efforts to keep this disease away in the days to come,” he added.
However, experts also say that the threat is not over yet, suggesting integrated planning should be implemented to have a greater outcome in near future.
Public Health Specialist Delta-hit areas MH Chowdhury (Lenin), chairman of the medicine department at the Health and Hope Hospital told Bangladesh Post, “The changing of seasons is playing a key role in reducing the infection rate of Dengue. If we want this menace to be over to the zero level, mass people must come forward along with the governments’ steps.”
Meanwhile, at the virtual bulletin about the Covid-19 situation in the country, Line Director of the Non-Communicable Disease Control Program and spokesperson of DGHS Professor Mohammad Robed Amin on Wednesday said that August and September were difficult as the dengue infection had a surge then.
Mentioning the number of deaths is decreasing he added, “So far, 80 dengue infected people died and most of them died in August-September. And in October, 11 patients have died so far.
He also said, “The hospitals have adequate beds and dengue is a preventable disease. If the treatment starts early in hospitals patients recover quickly.”
A total of 182 dengue patients were admitted to hospitals across the country, including the capital on Tuesday. Of these, 143 were in Dhaka and 39 were from outside the capital. At present, a total of 916 patients are admitted in different government and private hospitals in the country. Of these, 742 are in Dhaka and 144 in hospitals outside Dhaka.
So far, the total number of dengue patients admitted to the hospital this year is 20,518. Of these, 19,522 returned home after treatment while 80 died. Among the dead are many young people.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the dengue outbreak suddenly approached as an added concerns months ago imposing more death threats than previous years.
But following the proper initiatives and directives of the government and its’ departments, dengue has started to be no longer a ‘menace’, along with the Covid-19 threat existing least in numbers.
