Dengue Deaths Pass 1,200 in Bangladesh

Dengue Deaths Pass 1,200 in Bangladesh

Chika Mori and Sawako Uchida

Modern Tokyo Times

Dengue deaths in Bangladesh have reached over 1,200. Henceforth, the highest death toll in the recorded history from dengue in Bangladesh.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease that is wreaking havoc on Bangladesh. Of the 1,200 deaths, over 100 are children.

Infections from dengue in Bangladesh usually peak between July and September during the monsoon season. However, the dengue outbreak began this year by the end of April.

Reuters reports, “Hospitals are struggling to find space for the large number of patients suffering high fever, joint pain and vomiting while there is a shortage of intravenous fluids, health officials said.”

In severe cases of dengue – internal bleeding begins to weaken the body. Early symptoms before severity include joint and muscle pain, nausea, and headaches.

The BBC reports, “Doctors have noted that the condition of current dengue patients deteriorates much faster compared to the last few years.”

Tropical countries are blighted by dengue – where it is endemic. Poor sanitation in urban areas also enables mosquitoes to jump in numbers.

The World Health Organization says, “Dengue was first recorded in the 1960s in Bangladesh (then known as East Pakistan) and was known as “Dacca fever”. Since 2010 cases of dengue appear to coincide with the rainy season from May to September and higher temperatures. Bangladesh’s climate conditions are becoming more favorable for the transmission of dengue and other vector-borne diseases including malaria and chikungunya virus due to excessive rainfall, waterlogging, flooding, rise in temperature and the unusual shifts in the country’s traditional seasons.” 

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