A total of 4,949 patients are being treated in hospitals in Bangladesh (Representative)
Dhaka, Bangladesh:
Dengue cases in Bangladesh have surpassed 300,000 as the country grapples with the worst outbreak of the vector-borne disease, media reports said on Monday.
The total number of dengue infections in Bangladesh stood at 301,255, with the country recording 1,549 deaths from the viral disease this year, news portal bdnews24.com reported, citing data from the Directorate General of Health Services.
According to the report, 1,291 new cases of viral fever were reported on Sunday alone.
A total of 4,949 patients, including 1,127 in Dhaka, are being treated in hospitals across the country.
After there were 71,976 cases and 342 deaths in August, a record 79,598 dengue cases and 396 deaths were recorded in September, with the worst outbreak of the disease, while 67,769 cases and 359 deaths were reported in October.
The death toll in the first 19 days of November stood at 201, while 30,080 new dengue cases were recorded during this period.
According to the report, experts blamed the outbreak on a prolonged monsoon, rising temperatures and the lack of effective measures to kill the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the known vector of the dengue virus.
A government-funded pre-monsoon survey in Dhaka recorded an alarming increase in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, fueling the worst spread of the disease in the past five years.
Last year, hospitals in Bangladesh reported 62,382 patients seeking medical treatment for the disease and deaths stood at 281, the highest since dengue hospitalization records began in the 1960s, the news portal said.
Dengue fever can be controlled in many ways, including vector management and reducing Aedes breeding sources, said former DHGS chief entomologist Mohammad Khalilur Rahman.
However, the measures taken by the authorities were not satisfactory, he was quoted as saying by The Daily Star newspaper.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Source : www.ndtv.com