2023-09-06 16:17:39
Bangladesh hit by worst dengue outbreak
In just over five months, the Asian country has recorded 135,000 cases and 650 deaths, including 300 in August alone. The World Health Organization is sounding the alarm.
PostedSeptember 6, 2023, 6:17 PM
“The outbreak is putting enormous pressure on the health system” in Bangladesh, said World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
REUTERS
Bangladesh is experiencing the worst dengue outbreak on record, with more than 135,000 cases and 650 deaths from the mosquito-borne disease since April, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday. .
In the past month alone, more than 300 dengue fever deaths have been reported in the world’s eighth most populous country, the UN health agency said. “The outbreak is putting enormous pressure on the health system,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. As cases began to decline in the capital Dhaka, they rose in other parts of the country.
WHO has deployed experts on the ground and is supporting Bangladeshi authorities to strengthen surveillance, increase laboratory capacity and improve communication with affected communities.
Heat promotes the spread
Dengue is a disease endemic to tropical areas, which causes high fevers, headaches, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain and, in the most severe cases, bleeding that can lead to death.
This disease and others caused by mosquito-borne viruses are spreading faster due to climate change, the WHO has warned. The agency’s alert and response director, Abdi Mahamud, said more countries would face such outbreaks with warming and global solidarity was needed. Last week, Guatemala declared a national health emergency for its own dengue fever outbreak.
(AFP)
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