Dengue claims two more lives in Bangladesh, 2025 death toll rises to 217

Dhaka, Oct 7 (IANS) Bangladesh reported two more fatalities due to dengue in the 24 hours till Tuesday morning, raising the death toll from the mosquito-borne disease in the country in 2025 to 217, local media reported.

The two new fatalities were reported in Dhaka South and North City Corporations, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). During this period, 715 more people were admitted to hospital with viral fever, increasing the total number of cases in 2025 to 51,404, the United News of Bangladesh (UNB) reported.

Currently, 859 patients are undergoing treatment in Dhaka while 2,520 patients are receiving treatment at various hospitals in Bangladesh. Of the newly-infected patients, 60.9 per cent were men while 39.1 per cent are women.

A total of 575 people died due to dengue in 2024. During the same period, 101,214 dengue cases and 100,040 recoveries were reported in Bangladesh, according to the DGHS.

Last week, Bangladesh's health directorate urged all patients who were suffering from fever to get tested for dengue immediately at the hospital and seek medical help if they test positive, local media reported on Sunday.

Speaking to Bangladesh's leading newspaper, The Daily Star, Director (hospital) at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Abu Hussain Moinul Ahsan, said that delayed hospitalisation has been a major reason behind the rise in deaths caused due to dengue.

A statement released by DGHS stated, "Primarily, the delay in reaching hospital caused the dengue infection to become complicated, leaving little opportunity for effective treatment. Late hospital admissions or delayed consultation with doctors make treating complicated cases difficult."

The hospital authority said that all hospitals have been stocked with adequate medicines, saline and dengue testing kits. However, it said that it is necessary to ensure rapid dengue detection, treatment according to guidelines, and effective mosquito control measures simultaneously.

--IANS

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