Dengue could wreak havoc in an unprecedented surge during the post-monsoon August-September period -- this was the finding of the latest surveillance by the Dhaka North City Corporation as nationwide dengue cases faced an upswing.
The stark warning now echoes a loud alarm following the fierce nationwide student protests that toppled the government and ignited political turmoil.
After last year's horrific outbreak, which claimed 1,705 lives and infected 321,179 people, fear is palpable.
To make matters worse, countermeasures such as deploying city corporation staff to eliminate mosquito-breeding sites, using larvicide Bti, and preparing hospitals for patient influx appear to have faltered amid lacklustre anti-mosquito campaigns and ongoing political unrest.
In the 24 hours to Sunday morning, two people died from dengue fever nationwide, raising the death toll to 65 this year. Hospital admissions during the same period reached 202, bringing this year's caseload to 7,767.
"In our mosquito traps in Dhaka north areas, we found two Aedes in every 100 adult mosquitos in the previous week," said Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Chief Health Officer Brig Gen Imrul Quais.
But we could not conduct the surveillance last week amid the political turmoil, he told The Financial Express on Saturday evening.
Similar to Dhaka, experts reported a worrying dengue density in major cities.
Referring to a recent survey, renowned entomologist Prof Dr Kabirul Bashar said they found an increasing number of dengue mosquitoes and the presence of dengue patients in Dhaka, Chittagong, Coxbazar, Barishal, Barguna, Pirojpur, Chandpur and Gazipur districts.
While sharing the finding, Dr Bashar said construction sites were the hotbeds of Aedes mosquitoes.
This may provide a further preferable time to Aedes due to stalled construction works amid the political unrest.
Prof Bashar, also a Zoology teacher at Jahangirnagar University, forecast a potential dengue devastation in post-monsoon August-September.
However, Dr M Mushtaq Hussain, a member of the central executive committee of the Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) and an adviser of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), said if DENV-2 -- a dengue virus type -- prevails this season, dengue spread might not be severe this year.
But the situation could be fatal if other types of the virus dominate the infection, he noted.
Although dengue in recent years has become a year-round disease, dengue combating plans still focus on the monsoon.
Last year, DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam announced a three-stage plan to combat dengue, including a task force to identify larvae sources and compile a list of dengue patients, a rapid action team led by an executive officer and magistrate to take legal measures and a central monitoring team led by the mayor to oversee the entire process.
Besides, DNCC wanted to use Bti technology -- an eco-friendly and effective global solution to control Aedes mosquitoes -- last year but eventually failed due to contractor fraud.
The mayor told the media to start a campaign after Eid-ul-Fitr this year as a prevention measure ahead of the monsoon and to buy Bti directly from a Singapore-based company, but they have yet to receive it.
When asked about the actions announced by the DNCC mayor, Mir Khairul Alam, CEO of Dhaka north, told the FE on July 31 that they are working in line with their annual work plan.
Mir Khairul said that the ongoing preventive measures to combat the growing menace of dengue were slow amid the students' quota reform movement.
He said they sent a work order to buy Bti to the company. It was supposed to arrive within 15-20 days.
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