DHAKA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A total of 31,538 cases of dengue were reported from Bangladesh so far this month, bringing the total number of confirmed cases since January in the country to 49,999.
The figures reported by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) under the Ministry of Health showed a total of 49,999 dengue patients and 40 deaths from Jan. 1 to Aug. 16 this year, as compared to 10,148 cases and 26 deaths in the country last year.
A total of 1,719 fresh dengue cases including 759 in Dhaka were reported in the 24 hours till 8:00 a.m. local time Friday, the DGHS data showed.
DGHS said medical institutions in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country have been reporting decreasing numbers of new cases since last week with adequate measures to rein in the outbreak of the disease which is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes.
The first case of mosquito-borne viral infection was reported in Bangladesh in 2000, and some 100 people died from the disease in 2000-2003.
