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"No body necessarily dies in dengue" says WHO |
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July 28, 2000
Dhaka (UNB)- Allaying rising fears of dengue fever the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday said nobody should die from this disease but stressed the need for mass awareness and proper management of the disease. "No body necessarily dies in dengue if it is managed properly and timely. There is no reason to be scared as dengue fever can be prevented and managed as diarrhoea is managed by ORS," said Dr W Hardjotanojo, country representative of WHO. Talking informally to newsmen at his office, the WHO official said timely reporting, monitoring, campaigning is necessary for dealing with the situation. He pointed to the well management in dealing Diarroheal diseases. During the 1998 devastating flood in Bangladesh diarrhoea spread but the mortality rate was very low. It was a good example in the world, he added. In many countries as in Africa the mortality rate from Diarrhoea is now not less than 10 percent, but in Bangladesh it is not even one in 1000, which is a big achievement. As there is no vaccination against dengue fever, it is necessary to create mass awareness and proper management. "The death can be avoided by proper management," asserted Dr Hardjotanojo. Within last two decades, he said, the mortality rate of dengue fever has declined globally from 20 percent to around 5 percent and it can be further reduced to even 0.1 percent. About prevalence of the disease, he said Bangladesh is an endemic zone of dengue and now is season as Aedes mosquito, carrier of the germ, breeds during this time. Describing the level of dengue in Bangladesh the WHO representative said, "it is an outbreak". He was reluctant to say it assumed the form of epidemic. Deviation of normal trend of any disease is epidemic, he added. "Here there is no well surveillance system and we do not know the actual figure of affected people and death," he said. The WHO official stressed the need for well surveillance system for formulation of proper planning to cope with the future challenge. "There is a lot of work to do to face the situation…..It is now essential for introducing action team to check the outbreak and prevent the disease." If the causative mosquito could be destroyed, who would transmit the disease? However, the problem cannot be overcome overnight, Dr hardjotanojo observed. "So, initiative should be started from individual, family and neighbourhood along with government actions," he said. Dr Hardjotanojo said WHO is one of the UN organisations which has close contact with the government and it would continue its assistance if the government asked for. He assured WHO would provide an additional 100 Kits for testing 5,000 by each. He said a training programme for 90 physicians on dengue has already started. |
