Bangladesh dengue death toll tops 400
In a follow-up on the dengue fever epidemic in Bangladesh this year, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) reports the death toll due to the mosquito borne viral disease has reached 407, the second most fatalities the country has seen in a single year since 2000.
During the past week, DGHS officials report 7,539 additional dengue hospitalizations, bringing the annual total to date to 78,595.
Through the first half of November, 16,778 cases have been recorded. This follows more than 30,000 cases reported in October.
Officials say rising temperatures and a longer monsoon season are driving a surge in infections. "We’re witnessing monsoon-like rainfall even in October, which is unusual," said Kabirul Bashar, a zoology professor at Jahangirnagar University.
Shifting weather patterns caused by climate change provided optimal conditions for the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the primary carrier of the disease, he added.
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A recent study from Stanford researchers state climate change is having a massive global impact on dengue transmission, accounting for 19% of the current dengue burden, with a potential to spark an additional 40%-60% spike by 2050 — and by as much as 150%-200% in some areas. This new study was presented recently at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH).
“We looked at data on dengue incidence and climate variation across 21 countries in Asia and the Americas and found that there is a clear and direct relationship between rising temperatures and rising infections,” said Erin Mordecai, PhD, an infectious disease ecologist at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment and the study’s senior author. “It’s evidence that climate change already has become a significant threat to human health and, for dengue in particular, our data suggests the impact could get much worse.”
The DGHS recorded 321,179 dengue cases and 1705 deaths in 2023, making it the most active and deadliest year on record.