Dengue Sri Lanka’s Death Trap

By Pavithra Jovan De Mello

Hundreds of Sri Lankans continue to fall victim to the deadly dengue virus. Sri Lanka spends billions on cricket while hundreds in the country continue to fall victim and die  from dengue fever. Billions of mosquitoes that keep breeding in dirty drains continue to fill Sri Lanka’s hospitals with dengue patients – many of whom die of the deadly virus.
As our picture essay shows this week the dirty drains never get cleaned and so the mosquitoes continue to breed.
This year as at January 26, there have been 8 deaths and 2,449 cases of dengue.  In 2011, there were 28,140 cases of dengue of which 185 people died.  Of this number, 55.9 percent of incidents were reported from the Western Province. These figures are according to the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health.  Dengue fever,also known as breakbone fever, is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles. In a small proportion of cases the disease develops into the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage, or into dengue shock syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure occurs.