3 die of dengue when things seemed to improve

The number of dengue affected people – admitted to hospital – rose and fell last week. Although fewer people are now getting infected with the mosquito-borne fever, three more have died on Tuesday.

The deceased are Jishan, 22, of Gazipur Sadar upazila, Mahtab Uddin, 24, of Dinajpur and Sufia Begum, 55, of Kaliganj upazila in Jhenidah. 

Being infected with dengue, Jishan was admitted to Gazipur's Shaheed Tajuddin Medical College Hospital. He was moved to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) on Monday night as his condition worsened. 

Although we tried our best, he died at 7.30am on Tuesday, Assistant Director (administration) of DMCH, Nasir Uddin told The Business Standard. 

Mahtab Uddin died at Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH) on early Tuesday, Dr Saiduzzaman Rubel, associate professor of Medicine Department of RMCH, confirmed.

Mahtab was admitted to the RMCH on August 18, after being referred from Dinajpur's M Abdur Rahim Medical College, said Saiduzzaman.

After showing some signs of improvement, he was moved from ICU to the dengue ward on Monday.

"But after midnight, he suddenly started to experience convulsion leading to breathing problem and died at 2am," Saiduzzaman explained.

Sufia Begum of Jhenidah died at Kaliganj Upazila Health Complex (KUHC).

She got admitted to the health complex with high temperature on Monday morning, said Dr Hussain Shafayat, the KUHC health administrator.

Meanwhile, the number of dengue patients in different hospitals decreased last week. 

"Though the number patients infected with dengue has come down, we have to continue our efforts to fight the dengue menace without leaving it to the fate," said Professor Sania Tahmina, director (diseases control) of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), while addressing a press briefing at around 3.00pm on Tuesday. 

"The average number of patients being admitted to hospitals has come down from 2,000 to 1,200. If the ongoing efforts continue, it will not increase further in the peak season of dengue infection in September."

A total of 1,299 new dengue patients have been admitted to different hospitals in the 24 hours ending at 8am on Tuesday. Of them, 622 have been admitted to hospitals inside Dhaka and the rest outside of the capital, Sania elaborated.

Since January, a total of 66,064 people have been infected with dengue in the country. 

At present, 5,322 patients are admitted to hospitals and 52 dengue patients have died till now, according to the data of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) of the DGHS. However, the IEDCR's death review committee has received a list of 173 deceased.