Dengue surge requires urgent action
It seems neither the Covid-19 nor the dengue virus is backing down from their sweeping spread across the country. What is worse is that most patients of dengue this year seem to be contracting the dangerous Serotype-3 variant of the virus. All 20 samples of dengue patients from various hospitals tested by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) were found to be of this variant. As of 8 AM on Wednesday, the total number of dengue patients this year stood at 2,098. It should be noted that the number was only 565 on July 7. Curiously, the dengue virus has a tendency to spread widely every alternate year. During the 2019 outbreak, for instance, there had been 101,354 confirmed cases and at least 179 deaths, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Doctors from the IEDCR and Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital (SSMCH) say that not only is the Serotype-3 variant more dangerous, it can also be deadly for patients who have contracted any variants of the virus previously. Prompt and proper treatment is also required for patients suffering from the rare dengue haemorrhagic fever, which happens to be common amongst those infected this year.
Unfortunately, this is the worst possible time for Bangladesh to be dealing with such a variant of the dengue virus, given that the daily Covid-19 infections number crossed the 16,000 mark on July 28, indicating a huge uptick on that front. Needless to say, hospitals across all divisions are already overburdened trying to treat Covid-19 patients, and vacant ICU beds are either scarce or unavailable. Meanwhile, most dengue patients are resorting to treatments at private hospitals. The situation is such that two dengue wards at SSMCH are reportedly occupied by Covid-19 patients.
But the dengue surge must be stamped out before it gets out of control, not only because the prevalent Serotype-3 variant is more dangerous but also because patients contracting both dengue and Covid-19 simultaneously are said to have fewer chances of recovery as the treatment for one virus may interfere with that of the other.
The good news is that, as reported by this daily, the DGHS had received a health ministry proposal to have six hospitals dedicated for dengue treatment along with the required manpower. Though we hope this proposal will be finalised and implemented soon, we must urge relevant authorities to thoroughly plan the management of these hospitals so that their operation is efficient and effective. The execution of this plan should not be delayed or taken lightly so that we can avoid a dengue situation like the one from 2019—or something even worse, given the present grim Covid-19 scenario.
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