Bangladesh is battling its worst outbreak of dengue in years, with more than 400 deaths. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Bangladesh is battling its worst outbreak of dengue in years, with more than 400 deaths as rising temperatures and a longer monsoon season drive a surge in infections, leaving hospitals struggling to cope, particularly in urban areas.

At least 407 people have died from related complications in 2024, with 78,595 patients admitted to hospitals nationwide, the latest official figures show.

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By mid-November, 4,173 patients were being treated, with 1,835 of them in Dhaka, the capital, and 2,338 elsewhere.

“We’re witnessing monsoon-like rainfall even in October, which is unusual,” said Kabirul Bashar, a zoology professor at Jahangirnagar University.

Shifting weather patterns caused by climate change provided optimal conditions for the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the primary carrier of the disease, he added.

“These changes in the season are fostering ideal conditions for the mosquitoes to breed.”

Dense populations in cities exacerbate the spread of the disease, usually more common in the monsoon season from June to September though it has spilled beyond that window this year.

A rise in temperatures and longer monsoons, both linked to climate change, have caused a spike in mosquito breeding, driving the rapid spread of the virus.

Mr. Bashar called for year-round vector surveillance in Bangladesh to monitor and rein in the disease.

If detected early and treated properly, deaths from dengue can be reduced to less than 1%, said a renowned physician, Dr ABM Abdullah, adding, “Early diagnosis and prevention are key to controlling dengue.”

Last year was the deadliest on record in the current crisis, with 1,705 deaths and more than 321,000 infections reported.

The growing frequency and severity of outbreaks strains Bangladesh’s already overwhelmed healthcare system, as hospitals battle to treat thousands of patients.

Health officials have urged precautions against mosquito bites, such as mosquito repellents and bed nets, while experts want tougher measures to eliminate the stagnant waters where mosquitoes breed.

Delays in seeking treatment, particularly among rural populations who must travel long distances to specialised facilities in Dhaka, are swelling the toll, doctors said.

The disease can often show only mild initial symptoms that go undiagnosed until patients are critical.

Dhaka:

More than 1,000 people in Bangladesh have died of dengue fever since the start of the year, official figures showed, in the country’s worst recorded outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease.

Dengue is a disease endemic to tropical areas that causes high fevers, headaches, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain and, in the most serious cases, bleeding that can lead to death.

The World Health Organization has warned that dengue — and other diseases caused by mosquito-borne viruses such as chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika — are spreading faster and further due to climate change.

Figures from the country’s Directorate General of Health Services published on Sunday night said 1,006 people had died, among more than 200,000 confirmed cases.

The agency’s former director Be-Nazir Ahmed told AFP Monday that the number of deaths so far this year was higher than every previous year combined since 2000.

“It’s a massive health event, both in Bangladesh and in the world,” he added.

Among the dead are 112 children aged 15 and under, including infants, according to the official data.

This year’s figures dwarf the previous highest total from 2022, when 281 deaths were recorded.

Scientists have attributed this year’s outbreak to irregular rainfall and hotter temperatures during the annual monsoon season that have created ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes.

Bangladesh has recorded cases of dengue from the 1960s but documented its first outbreak of dengue haemorrhagic fever, a severe and sometimes fatal symptom of the disease, in 2000.

The virus that causes the disease is now endemic to Bangladesh, which has seen a trend of worsening outbreaks since the turn of the century.

Most cases are recorded during the July to September monsoon season, the months which bring the vast majority of the country’s annual rainfall, along with occasional floods and landslides.

But Bangladeshi hospitals have also begun to admit patients suffering from the disease during winter months in recent years.

Dengue wards in Dhaka’s major hospitals are currently filled with patients being treated beneath mosquito nets under the watchful and worried eyes of family members.

‘Canary in the coal mine’

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in September that the outbreak was “putting huge pressure on the health system” in Bangladesh.

The agency’s alert and response director Abdi Mahamud said the same month that such outbreaks were a “canary in the coal mine of the climate crisis”.

He said that a combination of factors including climate change and this year’s El Nino warming weather pattern had contributed to severe dengue outbreaks in several areas including Bangladesh and South America.

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa such as Chad have also recently reported outbreaks, he added.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)