22 new dengue patients hospitalised in 24 hrs

Twenty-two new dengue patients were hospitalised in 24 hours till Friday morning as cases are rising again during monsoon in Bangladesh.

Among them, 19 new patients were hospitalised in Dhaka and the remaining three outside it, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

As many as 118 dengue patients, including 109 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country, reports UNB.

On June 21, the DGHS reported the first death of the season from the mosquito-borne viral disease.

This year, the DGHS has recorded 1,111 dengue cases and 992 recoveries so far.

Dengue – a leading cause of serious illness and death in some Asian and Latin American countries – was first reported in Bangladesh in 2000 and claimed 93 lives. In three years, the fatality number almost fell to zero.

However, 105 dengue patients, including 95 in Dhaka division, died in 2021.

Dengue is found in tropical and sub-tropical climates worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas.

About four billion people, almost half of the world's population, live in areas with a risk of dengue, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Each year, up to 400 million people get infected with dengue while approximately 100 million get sick from infection, and 40,000 die from severe dengue, it says.

"There is no specific treatment for dengue or severe dengue. Early detection of disease progression associated with severe dengue, and access to proper medical care lowers fatality rates of severe dengue to below one per cent," according to the World Health Organization.