The government has yet to announce the ongoing dengue outbreak as an epidemic. That has done little to reassure people across the country that the situation is under control, particularly when the daily number of new patients shows an alarming scenario.
At a presentation on the dengue outbreak, held in Dhaka on Monday, Dr BN Nagpal, senior entomologist for the Southeast Asian Region (SEAR) Office of the World Health Organisation (WHO), explained why the disease is spreading in Southeast Asian countries so rapidly.
He said there are two species of Aedes mosquitoes – Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus – that are responsible for the dengue outbreak in the region. “A. aegypti, mostly seen in urban areas, causes 99% of dengue infections in a country, while A. albopictus, seen mostly in rural areas, can cause as little as 1% of infections during a dengue outbreak,” Nagpal said.
However, judging by the rise of dengue outside Dhaka, he said the Aedes aegypti species may have spread outside Dhaka as well.
Physicians treating dengue patients say three categories of dengue infections are seen in Bangladesh: dengue fever, dengue haemorrhagic fever, and dengue shock syndrome.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), more than 99% of cases are diagnosed as dengue fever.
This category has symptoms like sudden high fever, and severe headache and pain in limbs, said Prof Uttam Kumar Barua, director of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital in Dhaka.
Patients with Category 1 dengue don’t need to be hospitalized, and can undergo treatment at home with a lot of fluid intake.
Patients who are diagnosed in the second category, suffer from pain behind their eyes, severe joint and muscle pain, fatigue, vomiting, mild bleeding, and easy bruising, Prof Uttam Kumar Saha said.
In some cases, patients may show a skin rash, which appears two to five days after the onset of fever. Some of these patients die.
The third category of dengue is the most severe, and the highest number of patients have been diagnosed with this form of dengue this year. Patients with dengue shock syndrome may have massive bleeding and quick changes in blood pressure that leads to Hypovolemic shock when a patient’s blood supply drops below 20% and results in death, he said.
Bidyut Kanti Pal, deputy director (administration) at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said people with weakened immune systems or with a second or subsequent dengue infection are found to be at greater risk of developing dengue haemorrhagic fever.
He said in most cases, they have found that weakened immune systems are the leading cause of death among the young and elderly this year.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune on Sunday, DGHS Director General Abul Kalam Azad said sometimes symptoms are mild and can be mistaken for flu or other viral infections.
He urged everyone to follow a doctor’s advice carefully, and those who show a mild expression of symptoms must increase fluid intake to flush out the virus.
