DHAKA, Bangladesh / ConSynSer / – Dengue fever has killed 418 people in Bangladesh this year, after October became the deadliest month of the outbreak so far, Reuters reported. More than 133,000 people were admitted to hospital with the disease between January 1 and October 30, according to health ministry data. October alone accounted for 173 deaths, surpassing the 148 recorded in September. Experts warn that the outbreak is unlikely to ease significantly before December.
The toll has continued to rise into November. The Directorate General of Health Services reported 8 more deaths and 1,929 new cases in a single 24-hour period, taking the year’s totals to 427 deaths and 136,929 cases. The figures already exceed last year’s toll of more than 400 deaths. However, they remain well below 2023, the worst year on record, when 1,705 people died and 321,179 were admitted to hospital.
Kabirul Bashar, an entomologist at Jahangirnagar University, said any decline is likely to be modest. He expects dengue to persist through November, although deaths are unlikely to keep rising at October’s pace. Mosquitoes continue to emerge from breeding sites created by earlier rainfall, even as the weather turns drier. Changing rainfall and humidity patterns, partly linked to climate change, are keeping Aedes mosquitoes active for longer.
Hospitals report patients in shock
Hospitals in Dhaka are under heavy pressure. Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital was treating 279 dengue patients after 67 new admissions in a single day, its director Mirza Golam Sarwar said. Many patients are arriving in shock, with blood pressure sometimes too low to measure. Medicine specialist ABM Abdullah said repeat infections and delays in diagnosis and treatment are driving severe cases and deaths.
All four dengue serotypes are circulating in Bangladesh, raising the risk of severe disease among people infected for a second time. A death review by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research found that more than one-third of 119 patients studied died within a day of admission. Most of those deaths were caused by dengue shock syndrome. Many patients had faced diagnostic delays of at least three days.
Measles outbreak adds to the strain
The dengue surge comes as Bangladesh battles the world’s worst measles outbreak, which has killed more than 1,200 people. The measles epidemic, which began in late February, had already passed 60,000 cases by May. The two outbreaks are placing additional strain on an already stretched healthcare system. Bangladesh does not yet have a dengue vaccine, though authorities are considering one as a longer-term measure.
The government said it is preparing for a possible dengue peak in November. Officials have intensified prevention and treatment measures, including cleaning campaigns and mosquito control work. Field investigations found mosquito larvae in water collected in cut or broken coconut and betel-nut tree bases in southern Bangladesh. Officials said treating breeding sites across such large areas remains logistically difficult. Doctors have also urged earlier hospital care for high-risk patients.