Children among dengue victims

The worrying thing is indeed that there are several child victims. While the adults can take precautions keeping away from accumulated rain water in a flower or plant tub, or empty coconut shell and trash can where aedes mosquito thrives, the same can be playthings for toddlers thereby exposing themselves willy-nilly to dengue bites.

In other words, the children need to be especially cared for -- both preventively, and curatively obviously when they are stricken with the fever. It is learnt on good authority from a pediatric specialist at Mitford Hospital that some of the children had haemorrhage in the eye and have shown rushes all over their bodies. What an agonising sight for their parents!

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

Besides, what is important to note is that the resistance power of the children against dengue being very low, once afflicted by it their condition deteriorates swiftly. After all, the child immunisation programme which has been a much-acclaimed success story in Bangladesh has nothing against dengue.

Monitors of the situation this year regard the trend of dengue patients reporting to hospitals of the own volition as a healthy sign of a growing awareness among greater number of people against the affliction. Those stricken by ordinary dengue are reporting to hospitals and going away completely cured. Very few have to undergo intensive care with a constant monitoring of platelet counts.

The bottomline question, however, remains: what is the Dhaka City Corporation doing to improve the sanitation status of the city so that it is not infested with aedes, the agent for spread of dengue.