With seven more deaths from dengue confirmed on Wednesday, the official death toll from the disease rose to 106 in 2022 - the second-highest on record after the 179 deaths recorded in 2019, reports UNB.
In 2021, Bangladesh reported 28,429 dengue cases and 105 deaths, previously the second-highest number. The total number of cases this year stands at 27,802 as of Wednesday.
Even more worryingly, there have been 51 deaths from dengue in just the first 19 days of October, making it the second-deadliest month on record after August 2019, when 90 deaths occurred due to dengue.
Apart from the ones in October, this year’s deaths include 1 in June, 9 in July, 11 in August, and 34 in September, according to the latest figures reported by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The numbers reveal a seasonal shift in the incidence of dengue. Since dengue became endemic in Bangladesh in 2000, the highest number of dengue cases and high density of Aedes mosquitoes, the vector that carries the disease, were found during the monsoon season (July–September), with cases gradually declining from October.
But this year the country has recorded over 11,710 monthly dengue hospitalisations in the first 19 days of October. It was 9,911 in September, 3,521 in August and 1,971 in July.
Dengue outbreaks in Bangladesh exceeded all previous records in 2019, mostly in the capital city of Dhaka. A total of 101,354 dengue cases with 179 dengue-related deaths were officially recorded.
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