October 3, 2023

2023-10-03 00:56:15

Some 1,006 people have died from dengue fever in Bangladesh since the start of the year, according to official figures released Sunday evening. And with more than 200,000 confirmed cases, it is the country’s worst outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease on record.

According to former director of health services Be-Nazir Ahmed, the number of deaths recorded since the start of the year is more than the combined number of all previous years since 2000, when Bangladesh recorded its first dengue outbreak . “This is a major health event, both in Bangladesh and around the world,” he told Agence France-Presse.

The country has recorded cases of dengue fever since the 1960s, but it was in 2000 that it experienced its first epidemic of dengue hemorrhagic fever.

Dengue is a disease endemic to tropical areas that causes high fevers, headaches, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain and, in the most severe cases, bleeding that can lead to death.

Some 112 children under the age of 15, including infants, were counted among the dead this year, according to official figures. And the total number of deaths eclipses the previous record, dating from 2022, which stood at 281 deaths.

Scientists attribute the 2023 outbreak to erratic rainfall and higher temperatures during the annual monsoon, which created ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes. The virus that causes the disease is now endemic in Bangladesh, which has seen a trend of worsening epidemics since the turn of the century.

Most cases are recorded during the monsoon, between July and September, months which bring the vast majority of the country’s annual rainfall as well as occasional floods and landslides. But in recent years, Bangladeshi hospitals have been admitting patients suffering from the disease during the winter months.

“Advanced stage” diseases

Dengue treatment wards in Dhaka’s main hospitals are currently full of patients being treated under mosquito nets under the watchful and worried gaze of their family members.

People infected multiple times are at greater risk of complications, according to Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, a doctor at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College, Dhaka. Most of the patients admitted to his hospital have already had dengue fever two or three times. “When someone gets dengue for the second, third or fourth time, the severity of the disease increases,” he explained to Agence France-Presse, and “the number of deaths s ‘is also increasing’.

“Many come to consult us when the disease is already at an advanced stage,” he added. Their treatment is then really complicated. »

Like “a canary in the mine”

Dengue fever and other diseases caused by mosquito-borne viruses are spreading faster and further due to climate change, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

“The epidemic is putting enormous pressure on the health system” of Bangladesh, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had already said during an online press conference last month.

Also in September, the agency’s director of alert and response, Abdi Mahamud, said more countries would experience such outbreaks with global warming and that global solidarity was needed. This type of epidemic is like “a canary in the coal mine of the climate crisis”, he said, evoking the metaphor of the little bird which sounds the alert of great danger.

According to him, a combination of factors, including climate change and the cyclical El Niño phenomenon, synonymous with further warming, have contributed to the emergence of serious dengue epidemics in several regions of the world, including Bangladesh and South America. . Countries in sub-Saharan Africa, such as Chad, have also recently reported outbreaks, he added.

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2023-10-02 22:51:00

Los Angeles (AFP) – LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant… Several American NBA superstars declared themselves candidates on Monday for selection at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, giving rise to the dream of a new “dream team “.

Published on: 03/10/2023 – 00:51 Modified on: 03/10/2023 – 00:49

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Federated by “King” LeBron James, basketball superstars might pile into the American team, seeking a fifth consecutive Olympic title next year.

Enough to give rise to comparisons with the original “dream team”, from the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, led by Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.

“I’ve discussed this opportunity with those around me and if everything goes as planned I want to be there, it’s the only thing I’ve never done,” assured Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry (35 years), four-time NBA champion.

“Physical debauchery”

The declarations of intent towards “Team USA” came one following the other on Monday, while most NBA teams held their media days at the same time across the country.

“I also see the opportunity for Team USA to reassert its international dominance,” Curry added.

The United States remains in fact in a failed campaign during the World Cup played in Asia (Japan, Philippines, Indonesia) between August and September, and finished in a sad 4th place, without its stars.

Stephen Curry, October 2, 2023 in San Francisco during the Golden State Warriors media day © EZRA SHAW / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

At the end of his career, LeBron James reaffirmed Monday at the age of 38 his interest in competition, and wanted to reassure regarding his future physical condition following a long NBA season.

“Given the quality of players we might have, I don’t think it would be too much of a physical debauchery,” he said, following leaving doubts regarding the rest of his career in the spring.

“I wouldn’t have to do too much. A little rebounding, passing, defense, blocking a few shots, you see…”

“We have been in communication”, simply replied LeBron James, questioned by ESPN regarding his role in the “recruitment” of players for Paris-2024.

The four-time NBA champion had already led Team USA to Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012, two editions of the Games where his team was compared to a “dream team”, with Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony in its ranks.

“Equipe d’enfer”

“I’m going to play in the Olympics next year,” said Kevin Durant, already present in 2012 then in 2016 and 2021. The Phoenix Suns winger might aim for a fourth title, a record for an American basketball player among men.

Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker, Jaylen Brown, Donovan Mitchell and even Anthony Davis also showed up on Monday, enough to draw a frightening selection, starters and substitutes alike.

“I know that +Bron+ (LeBron James) is active in creating a great team, but we will first see how I feel physically,” said Paul George.

At the pivot position, the mystery remains as to the intentions of Joel Embiid, the MVP of the last regular season.

The star of the Philadelphia Sixers with three passports (Cameroon, France, United States) repeated on Monday his desire to play in the Olympics, and promised to choose between his three countries “in the coming days”, putting an end to a long suspense.

Embiid might thus strengthen France, defeated by the United States in the final in Tokyo in 2021, and particularly expected at home next year, following a disastrous World Cup (elimination in the first round).

“I will be present at the Olympics, and there is no other goal than gold,” has already declared for his part the new French prodigy Victor Wembanyama, who will begin to face the NBA stars at the end of the month with the San Antonio Spurs.

© 2023 AFP

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