Time needed to assess post-Eid holiday impacts of dengue

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Jakia Ahmed
Published : 17:15, Aug 20, 2019 | Updated : 19:24, Aug 20, 2019

It would take at least another one and a half weeks to assess the extent to which the mosquito-borne dengue fever has spread across the country during Eid-ul-Azha holidays, say experts.

The experts predicted that although the number of reported cases had fallen to some extent during the holidays, it would see a surge within the next 10 to 15 days after the holidaymakers returned to Dhaka.

Contradicting the expert opinion, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has said that the number of reported cases has declined in Dhaka in the past few days due to the combined efforts of the concerned ministries and the DGHS and awareness among the people. 

Dr Sania Tahmina, director at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), at a media briefing on Monday (Aug 19) said that there was a downward trend in the number of new cases reported and we expect the numbers not to rise.

“A total of 1,615 cases have been reported across the country between Aug 18 and Aug 19 which is 5 percent less than the figure reported a day before; the number of patients being treated in hospitals across the country during the time stands at 6,733 which is 6 percent less than the day before,” she said.

On Saturday (Aug 17), Dr Tahmina said that the next seven days would be challenging as the holidaymakers would begin to return to the capital from Sunday.

According to government statistics, a total of 36,336 people were infected with the fever till Monday while 16,253 cases were reported during the entire month of July.

Former deen of the Medicine Department of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Dr ABM Abdullah said that the number of reported cases had fallen as the holidaymakers had left Dhaka during Eid.

The drizzle of the past few days combined with the possibility of becoming infected outside Dhaka would likely cause the number of reported cases to swell in the next few days, he added.  

Dr Zahidur Rahman, assistant professor of the Virology Department of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, said, “The number of reported cases will rise in the coming days as many dengue patients have carried the virus and travelled outside Dhaka during the holidays.”

“It would take eight to ten days for dengue virus to mature after the virus is transferred to the body of Aedes mosquitoes once they bite infected persons; when these mosquitoes in turn bite healthy people, they will become infected and symptoms would become apparent another five to seven days later,” he said. 

Dr Zahidur Rahman also warned that the dengue season was very far from having passed as out of all patients whose blood were tested at the Virology Department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital last year, the maximum number of people tested positive for dengue in the month of November.

/wa/
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