Dengue shows signs of decline after recording 11-year high

With approaching winter, mosquito-borne dengue has shown a declining trend this month after touching a record 11-year high.

The government’s disease monitoring arm, IEDCR, which recorded 2,656 cases of the viral disease this year, believes a prolonged rainy season may have led to an increase in the number of cases.

Its Director Prof Mahmudur Rahman told bdnews24.com they had collected data from a larger number of hospitals this year than before, and that, too, could have been the reason for a spike in the number of registered cases.

“But acute cases were much lower this year. There were only four deaths,” he said, adding that “it (the disease) is now on the decline”.

In September, the number of cases was nearly 1,000, while this month, so far, 709 cases have been recorded.

Public health experts describe a dengue situation be under “control” when the fatality rate is less than one percent of the total number of cases.

The ‘breakbone fever’ caused by the bite of the Aedes aegypti mosquito had baffled doctors and was a cause of great concern when it first appeared in the early 2000s.

But subsequently it came to be seen as a seasonal fever, which doctors treated armed with proper guidelines and people getting to know more about the dos and dont’s.

Usually, June to September is considered to be the dengue season, but it may also stretch. Many factors such as climate change and the breeding of the vector mosquito can trigger an increase in the incidence of fever.

According to IEDCR records, dengue in 2000 affected 5,551 people, killing 93. The latest highest figure before this year was in 2004 when 3,934 people were affected resulting in 13 deaths.

IEDCR’s principal scientific officer Dr M Mushtuq Husain said this year dengue showed an upward trend in the entire South and South East Asia region.

“Climate change may be a factor for this rise,” he told bdnews24.com.

General awareness is necessary as the dengue-causing aedes mosquito usually breeds in small pools of clean water in and around houses, and even inside flower vases.

The symptoms of dengue are sudden high fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, and in muscles and joints.

Prof Rahman suggests the destruction of the mosquito breeding grounds before the onset of the dengue season can help contain the disease.