DHAKA, Bangladesh / ConSynSer / – Bangladesh recorded 173 dengue deaths in October, its highest monthly toll of 2026, pushing the year’s total to 418, Reuters reported citing health ministry data. More than 133,000 people had been hospitalized with the mosquito-borne disease as of October 30. October’s toll surpassed the 148 deaths recorded in September. Experts said the outbreak is unlikely to ease significantly before December.
New figures show the outbreak has not slowed. In its latest daily update, the Directorate General of Health Services reported 1,929 new cases and 8 deaths within 24 hours. That raised the total for the year to 136,929 cases and 427 deaths. The 2026 toll has already passed last year’s figure of more than 400 deaths. In 2023, the deadliest dengue year on record, 1,705 people died and more than 321,000 were hospitalized.
Entomologist Kabirul Bashar of Jahangirnagar University said the disease will probably persist through November, with any decline likely to be modest. He said significant improvement is unlikely before December. He added that deaths are unlikely to keep rising at October’s pace. Earlier rainfall left behind breeding sites from which mosquitoes are still emerging. Shifting rainfall and humidity patterns, partly linked to climate change, are extending the breeding season for Aedes mosquitoes.
Severe cases fill Dhaka hospitals
At Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital in Dhaka, 279 dengue patients were under treatment after 67 admissions in a single day. Director Mirza Golam Sarwar said many arrive in shock, with blood pressure at times too low to measure and falling oxygen levels. An associate professor at the hospital said about 90% of the patients it receives are critically ill. Delayed referrals and long journeys from districts often slow their care.
Doctors link many deaths to repeat infections and late treatment. Medicine specialist ABM Abdullah said people who have had dengue before face a greater risk if they are infected again. All four serotypes of the virus are now circulating in the country. A review of 119 deaths by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research found that more than a third occurred within a day of hospital admission. Many of those patients had faced diagnostic delays of at least three days.
Health system faces twin outbreaks
Bangladesh is also fighting the world’s worst measles outbreak, which has killed more than 1,200 people. The country’s measles epidemic had already passed 60,000 cases by May. Together, the two outbreaks are adding to pressure on an already stretched healthcare system. There is no dengue vaccine in use in Bangladesh, though authorities are considering one for the longer term.
Authorities are preparing for a possible peak in dengue cases in November. The state minister for health said prevention and treatment efforts have been stepped up, including cleaning drives and mosquito control. Investigators have found larvae in water trapped in cut or broken coconut and betel-nut trees in southern Bangladesh. Officials said treating such breeding sites across large areas is difficult. Specialists have urged earlier hospital admission for high-risk patients.
