New wave of rumours hit Bangladesh: 'Pour bleach, toilet cleaner to stop dengue'

A fresh wave of romours has hit social media users in Bangladesh as many are asking people to pour bleach and Harpic cleaner in toilets.

“Do not believe this,” Prime Minister’s Special Assistant Shah Ali Farhad wrote in a Facebook post.

“I have talked to a couple of public health professionals. They both confirmed that this has nothing to do with fighting dengue. This too is a deliberate rumour.”

Aedes mosquitoes breed in clean, stagnant water only.

“In fact doing what the message asks will create new public health problems by circulating large quantities of extremely dangerous chemicals into our drainage and sewer systems.”

He also asked all to circulate this message and “challenge anyone who is helping spread this potentially dangerous rumour”.

Prof Uttam Kumar Barua, director at the Shaheed Suhrawardhy Medical College, said he also heard about this rumour being circulated on social media.

"This is baseless, absolutely rumours. Dengue mosquito does not breed in sewerage. So it (bleach, Harpic) will not work," he told bdnews24.com.

Dengue fever has come to a head this year with the record number of people being affected by this mosquito-borne viral disease which has spread across Bangladesh.

Panic-gripped people are coming to hospitals with fever which is the primary suspect of this otherwise self-limiting disease that has taken a devastating turn this year due to ‘atypical’ presentation.