ZQuiet.com

By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

With 839 dengue fever cases reported in the past 24 hours, the epidemic in Bangladesh this year has essentially doubled the number of cases reported in the country in the past decade.

Since the beginning of the year, 51,476 cases have been reported through August 17, including more than 33,000 cases in August alone.

To put into perspective the magnitude of this year’s outbreak, the ten years from 2009-2018, Bangladesh only recorded 25,924 cases.

While government numbers put the dengue death toll at 40, hospital sources said 93 people have already lost their lives to the mosquito-borne disease.

According to the World Health Organization, the incidence of dengue has grown dramatically around the world in recent decades. A vast majority of cases are asymptomatic and hence the actual numbers of dengue cases are underreported and many cases are misclassified. One estimate indicates 390 million dengue infections per year (95% credible interval 284–528 million), of which 96 million (67–136 million) manifest clinically (with any severity of disease). Another study, of the prevalence of dengue, estimates that 3.9 billion people, in 128 countries, are at risk of infection with dengue viruses.