September sees highest deaths from dengue

The outgoing month saw the highest deaths due to fever caused by the mosquito-borne dengue virus in the country in 23 years since 2000 as the deadly disease claimed 396 lives in September alone.
Deaths caused by dengue continued to cross grim marks one after another. August saw 342 deaths due to dengue.
However, the health authority on Saturday registered 14 new deaths including 8 from the capital city.
With the new deaths, the total number of casualties stood at 989, including 639 from Dhaka, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The total dengue cases this year rose to 203,406 with 2,425 new cases of hospitalization across the country on Saturday. Of the total new cases, 751 were reported from Dhaka, according to the DGHS daily update.
The fatalities and cases of hospitalization were highest in the last 23 years in the country.
Dengue appears to coincide with the rainy season from May to September and the higher temperatures in Bangladesh, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The ever worsening dengue situation showed no sign of improvement with the growing deaths and cases.
Furthermore, the health authorities also continued to report a growing number of new cases outside Dhaka. Of the new cases of hospitalization, 1,674 were reported from outside Dhaka.
A total of 9,959 people were being treated across the country in hospitals. Of them, 3,379 were from Dhaka.
Of the total admitted, 192,458 patients made recovery and returned home, including 79,204 from Dhaka with a 95 per cent recovery rate.
Last year, 281 people died of dengue, the second highest in the country.
nsrafsanju@gmail.com