How Bangladesh successfully curbed dengue this season
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Government efforts combined with public awareness found in the urban areas has got helped curb dengue infection level this season, experts say
Bangladesh witnessed an archive number of dengue conditions last year, where at least 164 persons died.
This year, surprisingly, the mosquito-borne virus hasn't made any significant impact in the country.
Only 67 people were recorded to have already been infected simply by dengue in August this season, which is regarded as the peak period for dengue outbreak, compared to 52,636 cases documented over the same period in 2019.
The curve of infection rate has been almost lying flat this year when compared to previous year.
Bangladesh also offers had zero deaths from the deadly disease till date, because the beginning of 2020.
Experts and the federal government said this was first the consequence of Bangladesh learning the hard way in 2019 about how to reduce dengue infection rate.
Simultaneously, both the authorities and the general public have become extra alert to dengue prevention this season, which led to a drastic drop in the cases.
In line with the Directorate General of Wellbeing Services (DGHS) info, the death rate from dengue dropped right down to zero this year, following an unprecedented grow in deaths documented in 2019. A complete of 164 people died of dengue fever last year.
The city corporations have been more organized this year and successfully executed its dengue prevention plan, Brig Gen Mominur Rahman Mamun, chief health officer of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), told Dhaka Tribune.
He, even so, believes that the avoidance plan would not have already been successful without the involvement of the residents, particularly the urban population.
“The government did its part. We did not stop spraying insecticide also during this pandemic. However, we realized it might be very difficult to lessen the larva resources of Aedes mosquito [the mosquito in charge of spreading dengue virus] if we didn't involve the persons,” he told Dhaka Tribune.
He also added that despite having an extremely low infection fee this year, the DNCC delivered free “dengue fever screening products” to 40 Nagar Matri Sadan clinics. Out of just one 1,306 tests, simply 14 samples were identified positive.
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Dr Nazrul Islam, virologist and past vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), told Dhaka Tribune that although there is absolutely no hard evidence or any research performed on why the amount of dengue conditions had dropped in 2020, it appears that individual intervention could possibly be the main reason behind the success.
“The caliber of intervention is most likely much better this season. Last year, most of the insecticides getting utilized by the city companies weren't effective,” he said.
The International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Exploration, Bangladesh (icddr,b) conducted a research on Aedes mosquitoes in 2019, which discovered that the mosquitoes had developed a close to complete resistance against a number of the insecticides being employed by the city corporations during the last 10 years.
Dr Islam believes people intervention ought to be carried out in the right way to prevent illnesses like dengue fever.
“I really believe the authorities have discovered from the mistakes they made this past year. They almost certainly imported far better insecticides this season, and routinely sprayed them over the city,” he stated, adding that people have become more aware because they experienced the worst last year.
Most dengue virus cases recorded this season were in January, per month regarded as off season for a good dengue outbreak.
Only 38 persons were infected in January 2019, which however stood at 199 in January 2020.
DNCC Chief Wellbeing Officer Mominur Rahman Mamun said the month of January witnessed the highest number of cases as some infected persons were nonetheless around and helped pass on the virus.
Travel restriction as a result of Covid-19 pandemic also came as a good blessing for dengue avoidance this year. Public activities were limited generally in most urban areas due to lockdown. Unlike this past year, not too various people from dengue-affected countries managed to enter Bangladesh because of international travel restrictions.
The DNCC health chief believes restrictions on motion played a small role in curbing dengue infection this season. However, many people in cities have not necessarily stayed indoors since May.
“I am uncertain if we ought to give that much credit rating to restrictions on consumer movements for the low number of cases this season. We did not genuinely have a strict lockdown,” he said.
He as well believes that if the government works together with the people to curb the dengue an infection rate, a predicament like in 2019 could be avoided.
Source: https://www.dhakatribune.com
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