Sri Lankan doctors sound alarm as dengue cases rise

Sri Lanka’s Health Ministry reported that 16,042 people have contracted the mosquito-borne viral disease this year, but ongoing monsoon rains and flooding — which provide perfect breeding sites for mosquitoes — have led to a surge in cases since the beginning of November.

Dr. Shilanthi Seneviratne, a community physician at the National Dengue Control Unit, told Arab News that 2,195 new dengue cases were reported across Sri Lanka in the past two weeks, nearly double the rate during last year’s monsoon period.

“This is because there are hundreds of mosquito breeding points formed due to heavy rains,” she said, adding that most of the infections were recorded in the Western Province and in Eastern Province’s Batticaloa district, where population density is high.

An inflated number of dengue cases has also been reported in the capital, Colombo, where chief epidemiologist Dr. Dinu Guruge said special measures have been put in place to contain the spread.

“We have formed special squads to check the water stagnated areas to prevent the mosquito breeding points,” she told Arab News, adding that officials have been going from house to house to monitor the situation.

Dengue is common in South Asia, especially during the monsoon season, and can be lethal if untreated. When symptoms occur, they may be mistaken for other illnesses, such as the flu, and usually begin four to 10 days after infection. The characteristic symptoms are sudden-onset fever, headache, and muscle and joint pains.

Dengue fever was diagnostically confirmed in Sri Lanka in 1962 and has been known to be endemic since the beginning of this century. The most severe outbreak was reported in 2017, when the number of confirmed cases in the island nation of 21 million crossed 186,000.

Dengue fever infects hundreds of millions of people globally each year and has grown in prevalence. World Health Organization data shows that just 15,000 cases were found in nine countries in 1960, but it now infects 390 million a year across over 100 nations.