The toll from dengue in Bangladesh this year crossed 1,000 on Sunday, the highest annual tally on record in the South Asian country, reported Dhaka Tribune.

The current caseload stands at 2.06 lakh confirmed infections.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services, 17 people died on Sunday, pushing the toll to 1,006. The dead include 112 children aged 15 and below as well as infants.

Be-Nazir Ahmed, the former director at the health agency, on Monday said that the number of deaths this year is higher than what has been recorded since the first outbreak in 2000, reported AFP. “It’s a massive health event, both in Bangladesh and in the world,” he told the news agency.

Transmitted by female Aedes mosquitoes, dengue symptoms vary with some people showing no sign of infection, and others suffering from bad flu-like symptoms. The disease also causes severe pain in muscles and bones. Cases of the vector-borne disease are usually reported between July and September monsoon season.

In July, the World Health Organization had warned that dengue and other mosquito-borne viruses such as chikungunya and Zika are spreading faster due to climate change and other factors such as urbanisation and migration.

Scientists have attributed the outbreak this year to irregular rainfall and warmer temperatures during the monsoon season that results in ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes, reported AFP.

“It’s not happening only in Bangladesh – many tropical and sub-tropical countries are experiencing dengue this year,” Kabirul Bashar, a zoology professor at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka, had told the news agency in September.

He added: “Global climate change is playing a role in providing this temperature level.”

Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, a doctor at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College in Dhaka, said most patients admitted in the hospital were suffering their second or third cases of dengue. In these conditions, Islam said, the severity of the disease increased and results in higher number of deaths.

“Many are coming to us when it’s already late in their illness,” he said. “Then it’s really complicated to treat them.”

On Sunday, 2,882 new dengue patients were admitted to hospitals across the country, reported Dhaka Tribune. So far, 1.95 lakh patients have successfully recovered.

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