Shawdesh Desk:

Dengue menace has turned widespread across the country as dengue patients have already been detected in 50 districts other than the capital where the number of people infected with the viral disease has crossed all records.

At least 1,283 dengue patients were hospitalised in these districts, triggering concerns for the Directorate General of Health Services.

Meanwhile, two more patients died of dengue fever at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Enam Medical College Hospital at Savar, raising the number of deaths from the disease reportedly to 41 on Monday.

Deceased Jewel Mahmud Nayan, son of Abdul Jalil of Kulla village in Dhamrai upazila, was suffering from the viral fever for last 10 days. On July 27, Nayan was admitted to Enam Medical College Hospital after dengue identified in his body at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital.

Rita Akter, 28, a resident of Tangi in Gazipur died of dengue at DMCH around 8:30am on Monday, four days after she was admitted to the hospital, said a duty doctor.

At present, the most dengue-hit districts are Chattagram, Khulna, Jashore, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Bogura, Barishal, Chandpur, Feni, Cumilla, Gazipur and Kishoreganj, according to the Health Services.

On Monday, at least 240 new dengue patients were hospitalised and 531 dengue patients were under treatment at the hospitals across the country, excluding the capital, where dengue already becomes a nightmare.

The dengue situation may turn worse across the country as people from the capital prepare to go home during Eid and with it the risk of transporting the mosquito-borne dengue virus to the villages.

This would mean an increase in the number of infected people, especially in the rural areas where it was yet to make its incursion, officials said.

‘Bangladesh being a populous country is at risk of extensive spread of dengue,’ said Health Services director for communicable disease Sanya Tahmina.

Fear of widespread infections of dengue is growing as people carrying the dengue virus would go to their village homes from Dhaka during Eid festival, she said at a press conference at the Health Services auditorium on Monday.

The health services already altered the civil surgeons about the risks of spreading dengue in the coming days.

It has sent dengue testing kits on Monday and copies of dengue management guidelines would be sent on Tuesday to the districts to ensure better management of dengue if it becomes widespread across the country.

The civil surgeons and medical college hospitals were directed to alert their doctors for dengue.

Health Services director general Abul Kalam Azad in a video conference at the 64 districts alerted the civil surgeons.

Sanya said the health services also alerted officials at the port of entries including the international airports, land ports and seaports.

The port authorities have been directed to detect dengue for anyone entering Bangladesh and giving them health tips about the dengue hemorrhagic fever, she said.

According to Monday’s data from government’s health emergency and operation control room, at least 1,096 new dengue patients were hospitalised in the past 24 hours and at least 3,847 dengue patients were under treatment at different hospitals.

The number of dengue patients admitted in the last 29 days of the month of July rose to 11,450, which has surpassed the record of total patients of any single year in the past in Bangladesh.

This year, the total hospitalisation of dengue patients rose to 13,637, breaking all records.

Eight people died of dengue this year, official records say, but unofficial reports put the number at 41.

The number of cases of infected patient hospitalised to date crossed the 6,000 mark, a figure which is four times higher since 2000, the year dengue appeared in Bangladesh, with 6,232 in 2002, 6,060 in 2016, 10,148 in 2018 and this year.

The hospitals in the capital are struggling to manage dengue patients faced with the unexpected influx.

On Monday, at least 593 dengue patients have taken treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, 269 at Mitford Hospital, 238 at Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital, 212 at Holy Family Red Crescent Hospital, 241 at Mugda Medical College Hospital, 216 at Kurmitola General Hospital and 102 at Dhaka Shishu Hospital.