Dengue fever continues to wreak havoc across the country as 836 fresh patients were hospitalised in the last 24 hours till Sunday morning, with the highest of six deaths in a single day this year.
Of the new patients, 516 were admitted to hospitals in Dhaka, and 320 outside the capital, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the latest death, the tally of deaths from mosquito-borne fever rose to 73 this year, of whom 26 patients died in the last nine days of July. Dhaka and Chattogram divisions have the highest number of dengue cases, said the directorate.
A total of 2,750 dengue patients, including 1,968 in Dhaka, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country, shows the DGHS data.
Noted medicine specialist and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's personal physician Professor ABM Abdullah told The Business Standard, "This time the patient's condition is becoming critical within two to three days of low fever, cold and headache. Many become unconscious with a weak pulse and blood pressure. This is a modified form of dengue. These issues are making me a little concerned as patients do not realise that the normal symptoms have changed and they are going to the hospital late."
"If there is fever, cold, cough, or pain, no other painkiller except paracetamol can be taken. Do not take any antibiotics without a physician's advice. If the dengue test is positive, around 90% of patients will be able to continue treatment at home as per the physician's advice," he said.
"But if you vomit, cannot eat, or your blood pressure drops, you have to go to the hospital. People with diabetes, heart disease or any other comorbidities, elderly people, children and pregnant women should go to the hospital if they are dengue positive," ABM Abdullah added.
The country recorded 281 dengue deaths in 2022, the highest on record after the 179 deaths recorded in 2019. Additionally, the health directorate recorded 62,423 dengue cases and 61,971 recoveries last year, while the cases touched the 10,000-mark in September.
