Dr Sahadat Hossain, civil surgeon of Habiganj, suddenly experienced breathing difficulties on Jul 21 and came back to Dhaka in an ambulance. After being admitted to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College & Hospital, the duty doctor declared him dead.
Brother in law of Shahadat Hossain, Mahmudul Hassan Mithun, said: He had been suffering from fever for three days and attended the meeting in that condition; after coming back to Dhaka, he complained of breathing problems and died on the way to the hospital.”
He did not have any symptoms of Dengue but had been suffering from fever for a few days, informed Mithun.
At the moment, many Dengue patients are not showing any symptom other than fever. Until a test is done, it’s hard to ascertain if platelets have fallen on not.
Dean of the medicine department of BSMMU, Dr ABM Abdullah, said: “This year’s Dengue is not haemorrhagic but a shock syndrome; therefore, if there’s fever, tests have to be carried out.”
Other symptoms are vomiting and lose motion.
Professor Dr Khan Abdul Kalam Azad, of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said: “If a patient’s liver, kidney, brain are compromised then death risks rise; children below five and the elderly above 70 are at the most risk.”
Blood disease specialist Dr Gulzar Hossain adds: “Dengue first hit Bangladesh 20 years ago; we did not understand it at first. Then we identified high fever as a symptom along with pain at joints and rashes; but now, we find that in many cases, the fever may not be high.”
In the past, we thought that the main risk was falling amount of platelets; but the main risk is actually from water materials which leave the blood resulting in low blood pressure. This is called Dengue Shock Syndrome which is the prime cause of death.
Dengue has evolved, he warned, adding: “The disease has become even more deadly; many people were attacked by Dengue but did not realise it. This has created a Dengue antibody in their bodies; so, when they are being attacked a second time, the affliction becomes severe.”
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