Dengue virus

The reported Bangladesh’s dengue death toll is shocking and alarming. Dengue fever claims a number of people not only in Bangladesh but also in India and Pakistan every year (“Bangladesh’s dengue death toll exceeds 800,” Sept.17, Gulf Today website).

According to the report, more than 800 people have died of dengue fever, out of 164,562 cases reported across Bangladesh so far this year, Health department figures showed. The data released by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) under the Ministry of Health on Saturday, the 804 deaths in total included 211 in September, 342 in August and 204 in July. According to the DGHS, 40,754 dengue cases were recorded so far in September, after 71,976 in August and 43,854 in July, Xinhua news agency reported. The South Asian country recorded 14 more deaths and 2,598 more dengue infections in the 24 hours till 8am local time on Saturday.

The governments in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh must make sure the Dengue vaccine be administered as a two-shot series with a 3-month interval to children and adults between the ages of 4 and 60, with or without previously being infected with dengue.

To keep people safe from dengue fever it’s so important to take dengue disease seriously as the world has taken coronavirus seriously and made sure everyone must be COVID-19 vaccinated.

I hope people get vaccinated as soon as possible because the deadly dengue virus claims a number of people every year in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Shahzad Alam,
By email