Spike in dengue cases; one dead

This article first appeared in TODAY on 25th May 2007
By Loh Chee Kong
cheekong@mediacorp.com.sg

SEVEN government agencies were present at a press conference yesterday to update the public on efforts to control the dengue problem, which has claimed its first life this year.
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The media briefing on the subject at the National Environment Agency (NEA) building reflected not just a worsening dengue situation but also official concern that the public has yet to take the anti-dengue message seriously.
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One key concern is that the number of breeding grounds found in homes has shot up. This even as government agencies and town councils go all out in their "search-and-destroy" missions to stamp out breeding sites in public places.
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According to the NEA, from April to mid-May, larvae were found in 776 homes. Among the identified dengue clusters, residential properties accounted for 84.9 per cent of breeding sites.
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"With the agencies doing so much, the mosquitoes, driven by their survival instincts, are not going to say, 'That's it. We are leaving Singapore.' What does it mean? These efforts may in fact drive the mosquitoes to look to households to lay their eggs," said Dr Steven Ooi, deputy director of the Ministry of Health's (MOH) Communicable Diseases Division.
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He also revealed that an 85-year-old man had died from dengue on April 28.
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The man had suffered from chronic diseases, including diabetes, but preliminary tests show that the Dengue Shock Syndrome was the cause of death.
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His death came amid a spike in dengue cases over the past two months – that were characterised by intermittent rain and warm weather.
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This month, an average of 167 cases have been reported each week, about three times the number in the same period last year, and also higher than during the 2005 dengue epidemic.
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Based on past trends, dengue cases tend to peak every six years, said MOH. It added that "2006 was clearly seen as an inter-epidemic year" and this year marks the start of a new cycle.
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While it was "improbable" that the number of cases would hit 2005's record levels, "if the trend is left unchecked, disease momentum will cause a worsening situation for 2008 and subsequent years," said MOH.
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Since last December, there had been a shift in the predominant dengue strain from DEN-1 to DEN-2, which was last dominant in 2003. This could account for the recent spike in cases, as the immunity among Singaporeans over the last four years against the DEN-1 virus "offers little or no protection" to the DEN-2 virus, MOH added.
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NEA's chief executive officer Lee Yuen Hee, who also chairs an inter-agency task force, said recent surveys showed that the public seemed to be aware of the problem and how to curb it. "But in translating that into action, the public can do more," he said.