Sri Lanka battles surge in dengue fever, with more than 44,000 cases so far this year

(Reuters)

COLOMBO, June 19 – Sri Lanka is battling the worst outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue fever in years, with more than 44,000 cases and 28 ​deaths recorded since January, an official said on Friday, putting ‌public hospitals under strain.

Dengue is common during Sri Lanka’s monsoon season, but unplanned urbanisation coupled with damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah, which hit the island nation in late November, ​has worsened the outbreak this year, authorities said.

The number of dengue ​cases nearly doubled from 5,651 in April to 10,638 in ⁠the first two weeks of June, data from the National Dengue Control ​Unit (NDCU) showed.

“We noticed this increase after the cyclone,” Dr. Prashila Samaraweera, consultant community ​physician and NDCU spokesperson, told Reuters.

“A lot of debris was in our environment, so we noticed a lot of mosquito breeding places, and our entomological indices were high ​from that time.”

With 51,000 cases recorded in the whole of last year, ​the rate of infections has risen sharply, Dr. Samaraweera said. Infections are likely to increase ‌for ⁠at least two more weeks before tapering off, she added.