National Dengue Control Unit battles deadly disease

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka health sector may face difficulties in managing patients and controlling deaths from Dengue as a more virulent form of the disease than in earlier outbreaks continue to persist, the National Dengue Control Unit said.

“Out of the total patients around 20-25 percent are school children,” Nalin Ariyaratne, Director of NDCU said.

“And the majority of around 50 percent is from Western province.”

Authorities have identified around 43,346 dengue patients as of June 12, 2023, with 25 patients dying so far. Last year there were 76,689.

“At the moment we are identifying around 300 patents a day, and maintaining a death rate of 0.06 percent which is lower than the World Health Organization’s recommended death rate of 0.1 percent,” Ariyaratne said.

“Even if the death rate is low, if the number of patients go up then the health sector will be facing difficulties in looking after them”

The general public is advised to get medical attention if experiencing fever for more than 48 hours and not to take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), which are widely used to reduce fever and inflammation.