Concern over dengue is growing in Bangladesh: deaths are reported every day, and patients without beds are being treated on floors, verandas and corridors. Experts warn that things will not improve much in October and November, and that dengue could take a dangerous turn in October, in many districts outside Dhaka as well.
Dr Kabirul Bashar, an entomologist and professor of zoology at Jahangirnagar University, said the university's forecasting model takes in rainfall, temperature, humidity, Aedes mosquito density and case numbers. By that model October carries a high risk, and although cases usually fall in November, that is very unlikely this year.
Spraying insecticide alone will not stop dengue, he said. The egg-laying sites of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus have to be found and destroyed, with large-scale larviciding and breeding-source management aimed at them, and with the public involved. City corporations are doing a lot of work, he said, yet cases keep rising because breeding sites are not being targeted.
Md Abdus Salam, administrator of Dhaka South City Corporation, said a weekly cleaning day is held every Saturday in its 75 wards along with regular special clean-ups, and combing drives are under way led by zonal executive officers.
Experts say that alongside destroying breeding sites, simultaneous clean-up drives in Dhaka and across the country are now urgent. The report is from Bangla Tribune.
Photo: Econt / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Bangla Tribune
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