Friday | 17 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
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Friday | 17 January 2025 | Epaper

Dengue fever, shaking and shivering us

Published : Thursday, 8 August, 2019 at 12:00 AM  Count : 395
Md Momtazur Rahman
Md Momtazur Rahman

Md Momtazur Rahman

A very tiny insect called 'aedes mosquito' is now a name of horror. This 'aedes mosquito' is the main cause of dengue fever, which has become an epidemic in Dhaka city and across the country. Dengue, like a blow of fire, has speedily spread in all districts of the country. In another metaphoric expression, 'dengue fever' is an earthquake, which shakes all of us though the epicenter of this earthquake is Dhaka City. I am not expert in health sciences or viral diseases. As a novice, I endeavor to pen a discourse on dengue fever.

Every day, new dengue affected patients are being reported by the department of health. Apparently, the numbers of dengue fever cases have broken all previous records in Bangladesh's history. The death toll has reached to nearly 50. Every day, we feel panic at the news of death of dengue patients. It is really alarming for all of us. It is true that the severity of the viral infected disease is increasing.

We are anxious that children are being infected with the horror of dengue virus. As the outbreak of dengue fever is high in the capital, there has been an enormous pressure for every hospital and clinic in the capital due to the arrival of dengue patients. The doctors recommend dengue examination if there is any fever. Though any fever, nowadays, is not considered as dengue fever, the city dwellers are fearful about any types of fever. The patients are rushing to nearby hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers for any reason. Dengue panic is triggered by fever. There is a growing crowd at hospitals for dengue testing.

Two mayors of Dhaka are giving an impression that they are helpless. The horror of dengue has been acknowledged. Awami League lawmaker and presidium member, who was the health minister, said, "The city corporation must be accountable for this scourge." I must agree with his statement. The city corporation and the ministry of health should have taken pre-cautious measures to destroy aced mosquitoes in Dhaka city. The experts expressed their concerns and advised to undertake pre-cautious measure to eliminate species.

City mayors have recently admitted that chemicals are not effective to kill aedes mosquitoes. New chemicals have been imported and are under a trial for their efficacy. We raise a question to them,"Why didn't they check chemicals, which are now ineffective to kill mosquitoes. It is apparent that the officials of the two concerned authorities (City Corporation and Ministry of Health) have failed to pursue their duties, properly and effectively. Consequently, this combined failure leads to spread dengue pandemic in our capital city and a vast area of our country.

Taking into consideration the misery of the situation, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ordered the release of effective chemicals to kill mosquitoes. The ruling party is trying to make the people aware of dengue and aedes mosquitoes. The general secretary of Bangladesh Awami League stated at a cleansing campaign that "We should not talk much; rather we should work at this juncture." It is alarming that about half of the people will leave Dhaka in the coming Eid-ul-Azha. Health experts said, "The situation will only get worse. Therefore, they advised fever victims not to leave the capital on Eid.

According to health experts, if someone, suffering from dengue fever in the capital, goes to the village homes, the disease can spread quickly to others in the area. Then the situation may no longer be possible to control. There are two varieties of aedes mosquitoes: 1. aedes aegypti and 2. aedes albopictus. Aedes aegypti is the urban mosquito. Another aedes albopictus is a mosquito in the village area. The World Health Organization has found that this mosquito (aedes albopictus) has also gradually become a dengue whale. Therefore, when patients with dengue fever visit his/her village, it is normal to spread the disease through aedes albopictus mosquito.

The government has directed the Dengue Test not to charge more than 500 taka. At the same time, all the tests related to dengue disease have been declared free at the government hospitals. The ministry of health and city corporation must carry out crash programs to destroy dengue larvae, very shortly in Dhaka. The ministry must sketch a plan to identify and destroy dengue larvae in other affected districts of the country. Routinely, the health workers must spray aerosols in every area of this mega city as well as other affected districts of this country.

It is unequivocally true that the minister of health, the mayors of the city corporation, the secretary of health and the heads of the respective health departments must be sincere in serving their responsibilities to undertake effective measures to destroy aedes mosquitoes. They have to work with the health experts, biologists, and botanists. The city dwellers of Kolkata were much fearful of dengue fever and aedes species. The mayor of Kolkata, along with the ministry of health, was able to tackle the severity of the virus. 

Dengue larvae accumulate in the clear water of tubs, roofs, unused pots, small spaces around our homes. We must clean and keep dry any kinds of tubs, roofs and small spaces around our homes. We must flush out using water albeit we never use commodes of our washrooms, everyday. We must check accumulated water in trays of refrigerators. We must spray mosquito-killing aerosols in the morning and afternoon. According to the experts, accedes mosquitoes mainly bite off in the morning and afternoon.

To conclude up, it is observed that the government seems to be serious about each occurrence or incidence. Afterwards, the government sinks in the ocean to carry out its strategic planning to solve any problems, routinely. It seems to us that our government mechanism does not function, efficiently and effectively. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is active and alone cannot resolve any problem over night; rather her cabinet members and secretaries of various ministries, the heads of different departments must work in a symphony of harmony. We can draw a conclusion, adding a slogan, here--"We try to save ourselves; we save our family from the severity of this virus. Our society will merely survive if our family can survive. Ultimately our country will survive." The Almighty Allah must help us.
 
The writer is a Professor of English, Department of Languages,
IUBAT-International University of Business Agriculture and Technology


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