Dengue turns deadlier as critical cases mount

371 lives lost this year, with 119,801 patients admitted to hospitals so far

Twenty-three-year-old Md Enamul Hossain and his younger brother, 19-year-old Ashraful Islam, have been undergoing treatment for dengue at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital for the past week.

Their mother, Kahinur Akter, a resident of Kamarpara, said Enamul was admitted on October 16 after developing fever, nausea and body aches. Ashraful was admitted the following day with similar symptoms.

Their sister, Nusrat Jahan, who is looking after them at the hospital, said the brothers were lying in adjacent beds. Ashraful’s platelet count had dropped to 8,000, while Enamul’s fell to 11,000.

“We gave them two bags of blood, and their platelet counts have been improving since then,” she said.

At the same hospital, Shahan Shah, 38, of Atibazar, has been undergoing treatment at the dengue ward since Thursday after developing fever, severe body aches and weakness, said his wife, Sabina Akter.

Another patient, Delowar Hossain of Khilkhet, said he had tried to manage dengue at home for four days before his condition deteriorated, forcing him to seek hospital treatment.

Like these four patients, an increasing number of people with dengue are seeking hospital treatment, many arriving in critical condition.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 371 people have died of dengue this year as of yesterday, while the number of reported cases reached 1,19,801.

Of the deaths, 126 were recorded in October as of yesterday, 148 in September, 43 in August, 36 in July and 13 in June.

The number of cases stood at 40,181 in October as of yesterday, compared with 43,774 in September, 20,536 in August, 9,206 in July and 2,907 in June.

HM Nazmul Ahsan, an associate professor at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, said a large proportion of patients were arriving in critical condition.

“If 20 patients arrive, around 15 may be in shock. Approximately 90 percent of the patients we are receiving are critically ill,” he said.

Nazmul urged high-risk patients to seek hospital admission promptly after being diagnosed with dengue.

These include people with heart, lung, liver or kidney diseases, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or obesity, as well as pregnant women, infants under one year and older adults, particularly those aged 60-65 and above.

“Early hospitalisation is our main recommendation, particularly for high-risk patients. If we can reduce delays in seeking care and ensure appropriate treatment and stabilisation, we may be able to reduce the number of deaths and severe outcomes,” he said.

Public health expert Mushtuq Hussain called for a three-tier dengue management system involving primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities to reduce deaths and ease pressure on major hospitals.

He suggested piloting free or low-cost dengue testing at primary healthcare facilities, with patients requiring closer monitoring referred to upazila health complexes and district hospitals. Medical colleges and specialised hospitals would treat severe cases.

In Dhaka, hospitals run by city corporations, the railway, banks and autonomous organisations could provide secondary-level care, he said.

He also called for additional beds and necessary treatment facilities at primary healthcare centres.

Meanwhile, Prof Kabirul Bashar, an entomologist at Jahangirnagar University, said dengue cases might decline slightly in November, but a noticeable drop was unlikely before December.

He warned that continued rainfall could prolong the outbreak, adding that a forecasting model suggested cases could keep rising for up to six weeks after the last rainfall.