World Mosquito Day passing silently amid surge in dengue

Even after a significant number of people's death from mosquito-borne diseases in Bangladesh every year, there is no significant activity around World Mosquito Day here. Malaria infection in the country is at a tolerable level now, but other mosquito-borne diseases, especially dengue, have been taking hundreds of lives every year.

On 20 August 1897, British physician Ronald Ross discovered that the Anopheles mosquito-transmitted malaria to humans through a granular-type black pigment in the stomach. He later won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for this discovery.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom began celebrating the day in honour of the British physician. The formality of World Mosquito Day, which began in 1930, has been growing gradually.

Dengue was first detected in Bangladesh in 2000, and in 2019 the country faced a terrible dengue situation. Since the beginning of this year's monsoon season, the dengue outbreak has been rampant. About 95% of the total dengue infections this year took place only in the last 50 days.

As most of the total dengue patients in the country are in Dhaka, the two city corporations of Dhaka have taken some measures to control the Aedes mosquito but have not been able to reduce the dengue infection. However, entomologists say that the real number of infections is at least ten times what is reported.

Experts suggested it is possible to create awareness among the people about mosquito-borne diseases by raising awareness among the people about the control process.

City corporation authorities said they have brought dengue under control this year and everyone is being made aware including spraying pesticides around their house. However, the city corporation does not have all the information about the patients.

Delwara Khatun, a resident of West Kafrul in Agargaon, has been suffering from fever since 12 August. She went to the local city health centre on 14 August and tested positive for dengue. Later, she took treatment at home as per the advice of the local doctor.

Not only Delwara but many patients suffering from fever in the capital are tested positive for dengue at local health centres or hospitals are receiving treatment at home. No one is being hospitalised unless the patient's condition is serious. 

Many people are getting tested for dengue free of cost in the urban health centres of the capital but city corporations do not have any report on it. As a result, many people in the neighbourhood are more likely to be infected by them.

According to the Health Emergency Operations Centre and Control Room of the Bangladesh Department of Health, a total of 7,251 dengue patients were admitted to various hospitals across the country from 1 January to 19 August this year.  Around 5,982 patients have returned home after recovery.

Of the victims, 4,593 were infected on 19 August.

The Department of Health says 31 of the patients have died this year. Of these, 19 died in the last 19 days of this month and 12 died in July.

At present, the total number of dengue patients admitted to various government and private hospitals in the country is 1,238. Of these, 1,145 patients are admitted to 41 government and private hospitals in Dhaka and 93 outside Dhaka.

Dhaka North Chief Health Officer Brigadier General Md Jobaidur Rahman told TBS, "We take actions only of those who are being admitted to the hospital. How can we provide treatment in houses? In case of dengue fever, 95% of the patients do not need to go to the hospital, and they recover after taking treatment at home."

"If we collect information from all the centres, a patient is likely to be counted twice, so we work with hospitalised patients," he added.

He hoped that if all are aware, we do not have to observe Mosquito Day separately.

Meanwhile, on 18 August, Dhaka South Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh blamed the city dwellers for the increase in dengue infection, saying the lack of public awareness has made dengue control activities difficult.

Professor Kabirul Bashar of Zoology Department of Jahangirnagar University, who has been researching mosquitoes for a long time, told TBS Mosquito Day was created to make people aware. People should be informed about mosquito-borne diseases and programmes on how to control mosquitoes should be taken up in Bangladesh. The government, which is in charge of mosquito control, should take such measures.

The entomologist further said the dengue situation in the country is not very good. The infection will continue to increase until September. When a disease gets worse, the control system does not work very well. If we had prepared in advance, we might have been able to control it.

Noting that Bangladesh does not follow the mosquito control system of any country in the world, Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, former director of the disease control branch of the health department, told TBS mosquito-borne diseases have been present in our country since time immemorial. Now dengue is a new problem. And this year again we are suffering from dengue as in 2019. 

He thinks that the main reason for this is the lack of entomologists in the country. There are only two or three entomologists in two city corporations against the demand of more than 100.

"Bangladesh is not even close to the process of controlling dengue in Sri Lanka and Kolkata. If the Department of Health says 50 people are infected, then this number should be taken as 500. The number of dengue patients cannot be identified by the number of hospital admissions alone," he said further.