Newspaper photos and reports on waterlogging in Dhaka and Chittagong cities these days have triggered shock waves across the country. The city corporations and other related agencies appear to be helpless. These bodies, whose mandate is to make citizens' lives worth living, are now acting as mere silent witness to the people's plight although the mayors, before elections, had promised, among other, 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.
Continuous waterlogging in cities are sure to breed mosquitoes that cause dengue fever (DF) which had once gripped Bangladesh in an epidemic form. Bangladesh, thanks to close cooperation of the World Health Organisation, had, during the first outbreak of the epidemic, acquired the latest medical kits and expertise from Bangkok to fight dengue. It is not yet known what the Health Directorate is now doing to create mass awareness about waterlogging and its close links with the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes that lead to dengue fever.
According to specialists, dengue viruses are transmitted to humans through the bites of infective female Aedes mosquitoes. These insects generally acquire the virus while feeding on the blood of an infected person. Once infective, a mosquito is capable of transmitting the virus to susceptible individuals for the rest of its life, during probing and blood feeding. The first outbreak of dengue fever (DF), then called Dhaka Fever, took place in 1964. A few scattered cases of DF were recorded in 1977-78. In 1996-97 dengue infections were confirmed in 13.7 per cent of 255 fever patients screened at Chittagong Medical College.
The first epidemic of dengue hemorrhagic fever occurred in mid-2000, when 5,551 dengue infections were reported from Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna cities, occurring mainly among adults. Among the reported cases 4385 (62.4 per cent) were dengue fever infections and 1186 (37.6 per cent) dengue haemorrhagic fever. The case fatality rate was 1.7 per cent with 93 deaths reported. Aedes aegypti was identified as the main vector responsible for the epidemic and Aedes albopictus was identified as a potential vector in Chittagong.
Bangladesh saw the worst outbreak of dengue fever in 2002 with 6,104 cases and 300 deaths. In 2004, a total of 3,934 cases with 13 deaths were reported. The epidemic started in June, peaked in July (1,209) and continued through August. During the outbreak period, 98 per cent of the cases were from Dhaka with a case fatality rate of 2.3 per cent. The rest of the cases were from districts of Khulna, Jessore, Barisal, Comilla, Chittagong, Jhenidah, Sirajganj, and Madaripur. In 2005, there were 1048 reported cases and four deaths. In 2006, the number of cases and deaths increased two-fold as compared to 2005. The maximum transmission period of dengue is three months -from July to September - each year since 2000.
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.
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Handling outbreak of dengue fever
Rahman Jahangir | Published: July 29, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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