Bangladesh dengue outbreak tops 80,000 cases, circulating DENV2 may result in more severe infections

NewsDesk @bactiman63

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in Dhaka, Bangladesh reports 80,074 total dengue fever cases through August 11, with cases nearly evenly split between the capital city of Dhaka and outside of Dhaka.

2019 saw the most cases on record with 101,354 cases.

To date, 373 dengue related fatalities have been reported, nearly 100 deaths higher that the record year of 2022 when 281 deaths were reported for the whole year.

The World Health Organization reported in a DON today:

Although dengue is endemic in Bangladesh, the current dengue surge is unusual in terms of seasonality and the early sharp increase in comparison to previous years, where the surge started around -late June. The CFR so far this year (0.47%) is relatively high compared to previous years for the full-year period. The pre-monsoon Aedes survey shows that the density of mosquitoes, and the number of potential hotspots is at the highest level in the past five years.

In addition, WHO discusses the circulating serotypes in the current outbreak:

DENV2 was the predominant circulating serotype in Bangladesh until 2018, when it was replaced by DENV3 as the predominant serotype since 2019.  However, DENV2 has been identified as the primary circulating serotype in this outbreak, and this may result in more severe dengue infections and hospitalizations as a result of a second infection with a heterologous serotype. Of the 66 serotyped samples in the month of June 2023, DENV2 (51.5%) and DENV3 (43.9%) were identified as the circulating serotypes.

Dengue is a disease caused by a virus spread through mosquito bites. The disease can take up to 2 weeks to develop with illness generally lasting less than a week.

Health effects from dengue include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, rash, muscle and joint pain, and minor bleeding.

Dengue can become severe within a few hours. Severe dengue is a medical emergency, usually requiring hospitalization.

In severe cases, health effects can include hemorrhage (uncontrolled bleeding), shock (seriously low blood pressure), organ failure, and death.

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