Dengue: 68 more hospitalized in 24 hrs

Sixty-eight new dengue patients have been hospitalised in 24 hours until Sunday morning.

Dhaka, Dec 5 : Sixty-eight new dengue patients have been hospitalised in 24 hours until Sunday morning, health authorities said.

The number of fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease remained unchanged at 98 in the current year as no fresh death was reported during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Ninety people died in Dhaka division alone, two each in Chattogram, Mymensingh and Khulna divisions and one each in Rajshahi and Barishal divisions.

Forty-seven new patients are undergoing treatment in hospitals in Dhaka while the remaining 21 cases have been reported from outside the division.

Some 279 patients diagnosed with dengue are receiving treatment in the country as of Friday.

Of them, 216 patients are receiving treatment at different hospitals in the capital while the remaining 63 were listed outside Dhaka.

Since January, some 27,604 patients have been admitted to different hospitals with dengue in the country. So far, 27,227 dengue patients have left hospitals after recovery, said DGHS.

Experts attribute the unusually high dengue cases during the dry season, mainly in Dhaka, to the prolonged rainy season, sporadic rainfall, and high humidity and temperature, Aedes mosquitoes' reproductive and behavioural changes caused by climate change and lack of people’s awareness and poor controlling measures by the two city corporations of the capital.

They also said the climate conditions of Bangladesh are becoming more favourable for the Aedes mosquitos to prevail in all seasons with high or low intensity mainly for the increase in temperature and breeding sources, reports UNB.