Steep spike in dengue cases

By Pradeep Prasanna Samarakoon and Dharmasena Welipitiya

Dengue was spreading rapidly across Sri Lanka again and 70,200 cases had been reported this year till December 08, National Dengue Control Unit (NDCU) said.The NDCU announced that they have identified 1,602 patients in the first week of December alone.Most cases have been reported from Colombo and Gampaha districts. A significant number of cases have also been reported from Jaffna and Puttalam districts.

Only 27,844 cases were identified during the same period in 2021, the National Dengue Control Unit said. They have urged the public to keep their houses and work places clean. If a person has a fever over two days, they should seek medical assistance, the Unit said.

Dengue is increasingly contracted by those in the reproductive age and pregnant women must be extra cautious if they show symptoms of the disease, Senior Consultant Physician at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama said recently.He said that anyone who shows symptoms of dengue must seek treatment immediately to avoid complications.

“In the late 1980s we considered dengue as a paediatric disease. Even in the year 2000, about 60 percent of dengue cases detected were those under the age of 19. However, now we see that most patients are those in the reproductive age. So, we see a number of pregnant women contracting dengue. The same situation prevails in India, Singapore, Bangladesh and Thailand,” he said.

“Dengue increases the risk of maternal fatality, stillbirth and neonatal deaths,” he said.