Heavy monsoon rains in Bangladesh are causing widespread illnesses and overcrowding hospitals as the country struggles with a deadly dengue outbreak.
Despite the fact that the government has not formally declared an epidemic, health experts in the 170 million-person South Asian country claim the sickness has already reached “epidemic” proportions.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), at least 176 individuals had perished from the mosquito-borne fever as of Sunday night, including 31 children under the age of 14.
According to DGHS data, Wednesday was the disease’s deadliest day with 19 fatalities, accounting for roughly 33,000 hospital admissions this year.
Officials reported that this year’s death rate from the illness was 0.53 percent, a “alarming” five-year high, compared to 0.45 percent in 2017, when a record 281 people died of dengue in Bangladesh.
The first 23 days of July saw 115 of the 176 fatalities this year, according to DGHS. In the same period previous year, there were only 29 deaths.
Experts caution that things could get worse soon because dengue hospitalization and fatalities in Bangladesh typically peak in August and September.
“The dengue outbreak this year, in my opinion, has an even greater impact on people than it did in 2019,” said ANM Nuruzzaman, a doctor and public health expert, to Al Jazeera.
He was alluding to the year that witnessed 179 fatalities and more than a million hospitalizations, a record for the nation. 2019 is still referred to as the “year of dengue” in Bangladesh by many.
“[This year] should also be classified as an epidemic by the government, and appropriate action should be taken to halt the spread. Otherwise, things will deteriorate,” warned Nuruzzaman.
The country’s top medical organization, the Bangladesh Medical Association, recommended the government to declare the dengue outbreak a “public health emergency” on July 16.
Dengue is not yet considered an epidemic in Bangladesh this year, according to DGHS Director General Dr. Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam.
“We need to provide more evidence before we can declare it an epidemic. I don’t believe we have arrived there yet. Furthermore, it serves no purpose to instill fear in the public by calling it an epidemic, Alam told Al Jazeera.
But the disease-related concern is growing. Social media is flooded with reports of pain and fatalities from all around the nation, particularly the vast capital of Dhaka. According to medical professionals, children are more vulnerable to shock syndrome, a condition that causes the body’s immune system to overreact to the dengue virus and result in severe dehydration, bleeding, and plasma leakage.
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