Children more vulnerable to dengue

Six-year-old Fahim is in anguish as he spends his ninth day in hospital care after coming down with a high fever.

Apart from a few moments of suppository-induced respite, his temperature would not drop below 103 degrees Fahrenheit, according to his mother Khadija Begum.

Concerned about his condition, his family got him tested for dengue and the result came back positive. Soon afterwards, Fahim had to be admitted to a hospital when his platelet count began to drop, his mother said, reports bdnews24.com.

The recent plunge in COVID-19 infections can only offer small comfort to Bangladesh's strained public healthcare system as the attention shifts to a perennial health crisis-dengue.

Worryingly, the mosquito-borne viral infection appears to be more prevalent among children under the age of 10 this time.

Experts blamed the authorities for failing to destroy the breeding grounds of the dengue-carrying Aedes mosquitoes.

As a result, children as young as 6 months of age are currently languishing in the dengue ward of Dhaka Shishu (Children) Hospital. Aside from the medicines, some of them needed IV fluids to treat the condition.

Parents of the hospitalised children also called into question the initiatives taken by Dhaka's city corporations to quell the threat of dengue.

Fahim's family believe that he may have contracted the virus while playing outdoors with other children in the neighbourhood.

"We live in Moddho Pikepara. There is an under-construction building next to our house which has a deep pit and it is now filled with water. That is a breeding ground for dengue mosquitoes," Fahim's brother Habibur Rahman said.

"There's no routine effort to deal with mosquitoes there. Sometimes, they (exterminators) come once a month."

According to the Directorate General of Health Services, 16,451 patients sought treatment for dengue this year, the second-highest tally of cases in the past 22 years.

As many as 6,349 people were hospitalised for dengue in the first 22 days of September. Among them, 13 have died.

Another 254 dengue patients were admitted to hospitals across the country in the 24 hours to 8 am Thursday, with 23.9 per cent of them aged under 10 years. At least 3.2 per cent of those patients were aged below one year and 20.6 per cent belonged to the age range of 11 to 20 years.

Hospitals have been admitted dengue patients under the age of 10 for three days in a row, they said.

On Tuesday, 28.4 per cent of the dengue patients were below 10 years, according to the health directorate.

Cries of distress and the dry-heaves of nauseous children reverberated across the dengue ward of Shishu Hospital. Nine-year-old Sumaiya, a resident of Kafrul, has been suffering from fever, nausea and an upset stomach since September 18. During her visit to the doctor, she started vomiting before falling on the floor from dizziness.

The doctor then ran a dengue test and suggested that she be admitted to a hospital, according to her mother Shila Akhter.

Shila is at a loss as to how or when her child got bitten by a mosquito. "She only goes out for tuition and to play with other kids. I don't know [when a mosquito bit her]. We tested her for dengue only when she started vomiting and had diarrhoea," she said.

Like other parents, Shila also lamented the city authorities' initiatives to annihilate Aedes mosquitoes.

Two-year-old Zakia, who lives in Kalyanpur, is taking IV fluids to recover to regain some of her strength.

Last year, everyone in Zakia's family except for her contracted dengue, said her mother 'Shilpi'. But this time, Zakia is the only one to catch the virus.

"Her body temperature shot up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit and would hardly come down. Then, she tested positive for dengue. Now she's a bit better."

Shilpi urged everyone to keep their homes clean in a bid to combat the dengue menace.

A slew of children with high fever has been visiting the emergency department of Shishu Hospital in recent days.