By the end of the 16th of last month, 67 dengue high-risk areas had been identified, and the BBC Sinhala website revealed many facts about the rapid spread throughout the country in the early part of this year.
The investigative article it states:
Dengue has become an epidemic, but the National Dengue Control Unit says that necessary measures are being taken to prevent it from developing into a serious epidemic.
Speaking to the BBC Sinhala service, Indika Weerasinghe, Medical Officer of the National Dengue Control Unit, said that as of June 20, 46,200 dengue cases have been reported in the country.
The highest number of dengue cases in Sri Lanka reported In recent history was in 2017.
“There were 186,000 cases of dengue that year,” said Dr Indika Weerasinghe. “And in 2019, more than 105,000 cases were reported.”
What are the reasons for the increase in dengue cases?
According to the National Dengue Control Unit, the number of dengue cases has increased due to the rainy conditions at the beginning of this year and the activation of a new strain of dengue.
“Now it has been discovered that there is an activation of the third category of dengue in the country. Until the last half of 2022, two categories of dengue existed in the country for the past decade. With the activation of the new group, dengue symptoms appear due to the lack of immunity in the human body against it. With the change in the virus group, the number of patients is increasing,” said Dr Weerasinghe, adding,
“Health sectors alone cannot do this. Along with other issues, the responsibility of destroying mosquito breeding places has been lost from the hands of the people.”
How many dengue deaths have been reported?
As of June 20, 27 deaths due to dengue virus infection have been reported in Sri Lanka. State Minister of Health Dr Sita Arambepola and the National Dengue Control Unit confirmed to the BBC Sinhala service.
“Currently, the number of individual deaths is showing a decrease compared to previous years. The reason for that is that, despite the increase in the number of patients reported, the doctors and health staff are doing an excellent job of controlling the situation by providing the necessary treatment to the patients affected by the virus,” said Dr Sita Arambepola, Minister of State, Expert.
However, she said that nearly 50,000 dengue cases in Sri Lanka in the first six months is a global number. “This is also a world situation. Peru declared a state of emergency last week after covid.”
“This time, there is a tendency for more dengue cases to be reported in the countries where dengue is present. The reason for that is now we were under many travel restrictions. Then the amount of dengue can decrease a lot. Because if a mosquito bites a patient with dengue and that mosquito bites a healthy person, the disease will spread. The virus does not spread just because a mosquito has bitten. So a mosquito that bites such a patient can bite many other healthy people. Now we gather in large numbers, and schools have started, which shows an increase in the spread of dengue virus in the coming years after the Covid epidemic,” said the Minister of State.
Is it a challenge?
State Minister Arambepola said in response to a question that we raised that getting reports of many dengue cases this year is a challenge.
“If the number of patients increases, it will be difficult for the doctors to control it and conduct the necessary tests. Seeing it as a danger, the government has appointed committees to take immediate and necessary measures. This becomes a challenge due to the increased number of patients admitted to the hospital,” she said.
“Even though the current situation this year is a challenge, we are taking necessary measures to control the number of cases reported,” said the Minister of State, adding, “There is also a possibility that the density of the virus in a mosquito containing the dengue virus may increase due to the current global hot weather.”
‘We cannot predict the future.’
The medical officer of the National Dengue Control Unit also said that it is not possible to predict that the number of dengue cases will increase by the end of the year based on the probability of dengue cases being reported in this country.
“It is with our activities that we can control the dengue disease. If we leave it, the number of cases may increase. But now we have intensified our activities,” said Dr Weerasinghe. “All this depends on how actively we control dengue disease,” he explained.
