Nine districts got higher number of dengue patients hospitalised than the other districts so far this year, beyond the capital, according to government source.
The districts are Barishal, Jashore, Khulna, Cumilla, Chandpur, Chattogram, Manikganj, Khishoreganj and Mymensingh.
The number of cases hospitalised with the aedes mosquito-borne viral fever in Barishal district this season was over 2,463 while the numbers in the other districts were between 1,000 and 2,000.
In the capital, Uttara, Moghbazar, Mohammadpur, Rampura and Jatrabari witnessed relatively higher numbers of dengue patients.
Uttara witnessed hospitalisation of more than 400 patients while the numbers were 300 to 399 in Moghbazar, Mohammadpur, Rampura and Jatrabari.
A dengue intensity map prepared by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research on Thursday showed the distribution of the patients hospitalised.
Meanwhile, on Friday, a 30-year-old man named Abu Sayed of Islampur in Chattogram died of dengue at the Chattogram Medical College Hospital, reports our correspondent.
Abu Sayed died at about 6:00pm at the hospital’s ICU, said medicine department registrar Emon Das.
He was admitted to the hospital on Thursday night.
This year dengue infection witnessed an unprecedented rise.
While initially dengue remained confined to the capital, as had been the case since its first reported occurrence in 2000, the infection began to spread outside the capital in the fourth week of July.
The dengue infection spread throughout the country in the first week of August and it became more severe in the districts than in the capital after August 7.
So far this year, at least 75,146 dengue cases were hospitalised, including 42,839 in the capital and 32,307 in the districts.
Division-wise, Khulna had the second highest number of dengue patients, 5,817, admitted to hospitals after Dhaka division (excluding the capital), where 8,257 patients were hospitalised. Besides, 5,743 cases were hospitalised in Chattogram, 4,456 in Barishal, 5,341 in Rajshahi, 1,920 in Mymensingh, 1,765 in Rangpur and 808 in Sylhet.
At the district level, Barishal got the highest 2,463 dengue patients hospitalised, Jashore 1,637, Khulna 1,539, Mymensingh 1,318, Chattogram 1,223, Chandpur 1,058, Manikganj 1,051, Cumilla 1,041and Kishoreganj 1,010.
Bogura district got 911 dengue patients hospitalised, while the numbers were between 800 and 899 patients in Rangpur and Kushita and between 700 and 799 in Rajshahi, Sirajganj, Tangail, Gazipur, Faridpur and Noakhali.
IEDCR director Meerjady Sabrina Flora told New Age that they were working to identify the causes of the rise in the number of dengue patients in the districts especially in the southwest regions of Barishal and Khulna.
The IEDCR also analysed the sex and age of the dengue patients and found that 64.46 per cent of the patients were male and 35.54 per cent female.
In terms of age, young people are the worst-sufferers as 31.56 per cent of those hospitalised with dengue were aged 15-25 years and 20.27 per cent 25-35 years.
Children of 5-15 years accounted for 17.75 per cent of the hospitalised patients while 7.53 per cent were of 1-5 age group and 2.4 were below one year.
The Health Emergency Operation Centre and Control Room on Friday said that at least 793 new dengue patients were hospitalised across the country in the 24 hours ending at 8:00am Friday.
At least 3,337 dengue patients were now taking treatment at different hospitals across the country.
The control room said that so far it received reports of 192 ‘possible’ dengue deaths, though according to unofficial counts, dengue has claimed many more lives this year.
