Dengue cases in Bangladesh's Barishal division have risen almost six-fold in three months. Divisional health office figures show 2,025 cases up to 30 June, 11,637 by the end of September and 12,676 by 5 October. Pirojpur, not last year's hotspot Barguna, now has the most patients, Prothom Alo reports.
Twenty-one people have died of dengue in the division this year: one in June, seven in July, nine in August, one in September and three in the first five days of October. Eighteen died at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barishal. In the 24 hours to 8am on Monday two women died and 216 new cases were confirmed, 70 of them from Pirojpur.
By district, Pirojpur has 3,226 cases, Jhalakathi 2,327 and Barguna 1,701. Barguna had 9,645 cases and 15 deaths in 2025; no death has been reported there this year. Its civil surgeon, Mohammad Abul Fattah, said the district prepared early after last year's experience and ran campaigns to keep homesteads clean.
Pirojpur civil surgeon Md Matiur Rahman said an expert team from IEDCR, the government's disease control institute, had worked in the district. It found mosquitoes breeding in water collecting at the base of betel nut and coconut trees, in coconut husks, at construction sites and in the drains of betel nut, coconut and guava orchards, and noted a lack of awareness among residents.
Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital had 148 dengue patients on Monday morning, treated in medicine wards alongside other patients; many lie on the floor for want of beds. Sahanur Begum from Jhalakathi said there were no free beds and staying on the floor was very hard. Sakib Hasan from Barishal Sadar said many tests had to be done outside the hospital, raising the cost of treatment.
In 2024, 8,773 dengue patients were admitted to hospital in the division and 64 died; in 2025 the figures were 21,815 and 51. The divisional health office says the division had no history of dengue before 2019. Deputy director Md Lokman Hakim said cases rose sharply in September and are still rising, and that hospitals are prepared.
The report is by M Jasim Uddin, Prothom Alo's Barishal correspondent.
Photo: US Department of Agriculture / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Source: Prothom Alo
Comments
(0)