Singapore suffers major dengue fever epidemic
Pastor Dale Morgan
Singapore suffers major dengue fever epidemic*
POSTED: 0404 GMT (1204 HKT), June 20, 2007
Story Highlights
• Total of 401 cases of dengue disease reported in Singapore last week
• Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia also battling surge in dengue cases this year
• Singapore dengue cases could peak late summer due to changes in virus
strain
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- The number of people infected with dengue in a
single week in Singapore has hit epidemic levels this year, a government
Web site showed on Wednesday.
A total of 401 cases of the mosquito-borne disease were reported last
week in the Southeast Asian city-state, according to Singapore's
National Environment Agency (NEA). It is the highest weekly level
reported this year, breaching the 378 cases in a week that the Health
Ministry has set as the level to declare an epidemic.
Other regional nations such as Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia are also
battling a surge in dengue cases this year due to warmer weather and
rising rainfall, leading some experts to warn that 2007 may be the worst
year on record.
A total of 2,868 dengue cases have been reported in Singapore since the
beginning of this year, compared to 4,580 cases in the same period in
2005 when the island was hit by its worst dengue outbreak.
The epidemic level indicates that the number of dengue cases reported in
the last week were significantly higher than the average weekly number
of cases reported in the past five years, according to the Health Ministry.
Associate Professor Leo Yee Sin, clinical director of the Communicable
Disease Centre in Singapore, was quoted as saying in the local Straits
Times newspaper on Wednesday that the number of dengue cases in
Singapore could rise further to a peak in mid-August or September due to
changes in the virus strain.
"We just need residents' cooperation," Satish Appoo, director of NEA's
Environmental Health Department was quoted as saying in the Straits
Times. "If you remove the breeding, you remove the problem."
There is no treatment for dengue, which is transmitted by the Aedes
aegypti mosquito and can be fatal in severe cases.