DHAKA, Oct 19, 2023 (BSS) - Eight patients died and 2,350 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 1200-mark as the
authorities recorded 1,190 dengue deaths between January 1 and October 19
this year," a press release from the Directorate General of Health Services
(DGHS) said.

"During the period, 515 dengue patients were hospitalised in Dhaka city while
1,835 were admitted to different hospitals outside the capital city," the
DGHS daily statement added.

"This year, 1,214 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 2,49,543 the
statement said, adding: "This year, some 2,40,097 patients were released from
different hospitals out of the total patients."

"A total of 8,232 dengue patients are undergoing treatment at different
hospitals. Of them, 2,472 are in Dhaka while 5760 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.