DHAKA, Oct 16, 2023 (BSS) - A total of 12 patients died and 2,475 were 
admitted to different hospitals in the country during the last 24 hours till 
8 am today. 

On September 20, Bangladesh witnessed 21 dengue deaths, the highest in a 
single day this year, and the nation also saw the same highest figure on 
September 2. 

"The death toll from dengue infection crossed the 1100-mark as the 
authorities recorded 1,181 dengue deaths between January 1 and October 16 
this year," a press release from the Directorate General of Health Services 
(DGHS) said.

"During the period, 539 dengue patients were hospitalised in Dhaka city while 
1,936 were admitted to different hospitals outside the capital city," the 
DGHS daily statement added. 

"This year, 1,181 deaths, the highest in a year since dengue was detected in 
2000, were reported from dengue disease while 281 died last year," the 
statement said.

With the new cases, the total number of patients rose to 2,42,089 the 
statement said, adding: "This year, some 2,32,759 patients were released from 
different hospitals out of the total patients."

"A total of 8,149 dengue patients are undergoing treatment at different 
hospitals. Of them, 2,391 are in Dhaka while 5,758 are outside of the capital 
city," it added.

The authorities have recorded the highest number of dengue positive cases 
outside the capital in August this year, meaning the mosquito-borne disease 
gripped the entire country.

August witnessed 71,976 dengue positive cases, the highest cases in a single 
month since dengue outbreak began in 2000 in the country while 342 dengue-
related deaths were reported in the current month, the DGHS statement said.

According to the health experts, the vector-borne disease hit Dhaka city in 
2000 subsequently the dengue positive cases were detected in Dhaka city only. 

But the dengue disease is changing its nature and it is gradually spreading 
across the country, they said, adding: "All 64 districts of the country have 
witnessed positive dengue cases." 

The authorities recorded 79, 598 dengue positive cases in September while 396 
deaths from the mosquito-borne disease during the same period. 

The prevalence of dengue cases in Bangladesh has increased 10 times since 
last year and the deaths have increased almost thrice, according to a health 
expert. 

"Dengue positive cases have increased 10 times and death three times between 
mid-September, 2022 and mid-September, 2023," Professor Dr. Md Golam 
Sharower, head of Department of Entomology, National Institute of Preventive 
and Social Medicine (NIPSOM), told a seminar recently. 

The morphological, biological and behavioral changes that have occurred in 
Aedes mosquitoes as a result of all our unknown activities in mosquito 
breeding are highly favorable for Aedes mosquitoes to transmit dengue virus, 
he elaborated.

According to the DGHS, Bangladesh reported 1,01,354 dengue cases, the second 
highest since dengue cases were detected in 2000, in 2019, 1,405 cases in 
2020, 28,429 cases in 2021 and 62,382 cases in 2022.

It also added that Bangladesh recorded 179 dengue related deaths in 2019, 
seven deaths in 2020, 105 deaths in 2021 and 281 deaths, the second highest 
deaths, in 2022.