Roundup: Dengue hits Dhaka hard, number of cases in 2015 highest in 9 years

Some 800 fresh cases of dengue were reported from Bangladesh capital Dhaka and elsewhere on the outskirts of the city over the last month, bringing the total number of confirmed cases till Sept. 30 this year in the country to some 1,400.

The figure reported by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) under the Ministry of Health gives an alarming situation as the capital city has seen a rapid surge in the incidence of the mosquito-borne viral infection.

A total of 375 and 1,749 cases of dengue were reported in 2014 and 2013 respectively.

But there was no report of death from Dengue in 2013 and 2014.

"The number of cases reported so far in 2015 is the highest in the last nine years," an IEDCR official told Xinhua on Saturday.

"We've lot of reasons to be worried as four people have already become victim this year," the official who preferred to be unnamed said.

At the latest, he said, 35-year-old Aman Moudud, son of leading Bangladesh political leader Moudud Ahmed, died in hospital.

Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes.

The first case of mosquito-borne viral infection was reported in Bangladesh in 2000, and some 100 people died from the disease in 2000-2003.

The IEDCR official said Bangladesh is now well prepared with enough trained doctors to handle the disease.

He suggested the city dwellers as well as the authorities adopt more preventive measures to tackle dengue.

He stressed the need for more cleanliness in households and surroundings as part of the preventive measures to destroy breeding species of mosquito within the genus Aedes. Endi