Dengue cases on rise as Dhaka city bodies fail to kill Aedes

The number of dengue cases is on the rise as the city authorities have failed to control the mosquito menace.

Three more people died of the Aedes mosquito-borne viral disease in Dhaka, raising the death toll to 57 since January while 288 more people were hospitalised across the country in the past 24 hours till Tuesday morning, according to the Directorate General of Health Services data.

Experts said that the number of dengue hospitalisation was still rising due to intermittent rain and city bodies failed to control mosquitoes as they had given more effort to run awareness campaigns than killing mosquitoes.

In the past 14 days of September, 4,153 patients were hospitalised in Bangladesh while 3,244 patients were hospitalised in the first 14 days of August, showing a rising trend of dengue infections, caused by the Aedes mosquito.

The total figure of dengue hospitalisation in the past six months from January to June was 372, in July it was 2,286 and in August 7,698.

The number of people hospitalised with dengue infections reached 14,509 so far this year, according to the official data that took into account information provided by a limited number of hospitals and clinics.

The Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation spent more than Tk 70 crore in controlling mosquitoes in the financial year 2020-2021.

The DNCC spent TK 50.50 crore out of the proposed 70 crore budget and the DSCC spent Tk 19.33 crore out of Tk 43 crore, according to the revised budget of the two city authorities.

In the financial year 2021-2022, the DNCC proposed a Tk 85 crore budget for eradicating mosquitoes while the DSCC proposed Tk 22.50 crore.

Additionally, the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives approved Tk 45 crore special allocations for containing mosquitoes in 12 city corporations in Bangladesh, said an LGRD ministry official.

They said that if the city authorities took effective measures by spraying larvicides and adulticides, the country’s dengue situation would have been changed and many people would not be living at risk.

Around 288 more people were hospitalised with dengue infections across Bangladesh during the 24-hour reporting period while 232 were admitted to hospitals in Dhaka and 56 in other places across the country, according to the Health Emergency Centre and  Control Room of the DGHS.

Among the three deceased, two were aged between 0 and 10 years while another was aged between 31 and 40 years.

Former Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research principal scientific officer and medical entomologist Touhid Uddin Ahmed told New Age on Tuesday that the number of dengue cases rises due to intermittent rain and the city authorities did not take any effective measures in killing adult mosquitoes.

‘No proper monitoring was carried out by the city authorities in recent times. When the country’s dengue situation reached an epidemic level, the government should focus more on killing adult mosquitoes as is suggested by the World Health Organisation. But the city authorities were still spraying larvicides and conducting mobile courts instead of killing adult mosquitoes,’ he added.

Entomologist Manjur A Chowdhury told New Age on Tuesday that the city authorities completely failed to control mosquitoes and putting city residents at risk of dengue infections as they are not held accountable for their actions nor are they responsible for the wellbeing of the citizens.

‘If the authorities had taken an integrated vector management programme, spraying larvicides and adulticides in various places, the situation would have been under control by now. As a large number of dengue patients remain unreported, we can say that more than 3 lakh people have already been infected. The time has not over yet as I feel that they can begin it right now,’ he added.

‘While spraying larvicides and adulticides, they should pay special attention to schools, colleges, markets and bus stands where they should do it once a week. We are now getting tired of giving such messages through televisions and newspapers. But the authorities were not paying much attention to what experts are saying,’ he said.

Of the 57 people who died of dengue, 53 were reported in Dhaka city, two in Chattogram division and one each in Rajshahi and Khulna divisions.

Twelve of them died in July, 34 in August and 11 in September, according to the DGHS release.

Among the total hospitalised patients since January, 12,888 or around 89 per cent have been hospitalised in Dhaka.

Dhaka North City Corporation Selim Reza told New Age on Tuesday that the DNCC had chalked out various programmes, including awareness campaigns, roadshows, and mosquito control for creating public awareness.

‘City Corporation is tirelessly trying to control mosquitoes. But the climate, especially intermittent rain and hot weather, is suitable for the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes. Compared with 2019, the situation is better. But we are not satisfied and we would like to see a downward trend soon,’ he added.

The DSCC had taken an ‘integrated vector management programme’ at Tk 300 crore in their proposed budget in the 2020-2021 fiscal, but it was not executed as it did not receive funds from the water resources ministry.

DSCC chief executive officer Farid Ahmed told New Age on Tuesday that they did not receive the fund from the ministry since the city corporation has its own financial ability to carry out the integrated vector management programme.

‘No mechanism can be found across the world with which to control dengue. Spraying insecticides can only lead to a 25 per cent containment of Aedes mosquitoes. The rest of the 75 per cent depends on public awareness, community approach and multi-sectoral approach. Experts predicted that the situation would be like that of 2019. But this has not happened due to some effective measures we took and the mobile courts we have been conducting,’ he added.

‘We hope that the country’s dengue situation would come into tolerable stage within next two weeks,’ he said.

On Tuesday, 1,256 dengue patients, including 1,069 in 41 government and private hospitals in Dhaka, were undergoing treatment in different health facilities across the country.

According to the release, 13,196 patients have recovered from dengue since January.

New Age