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Singapore sees dip in dengue cases - experts

Posted on: Saturday, 1 October 2005, 03:51 CDT

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore, fighting its worst dengue epidemic, is optimistic that the number of cases had peaked and will dip in the coming months, a panel of health experts said on Saturday.

Twelve Singaporeans have died from the mosquito-borne disease this year and 10,951 cases of dengue fever were reported by September 24 -- 16 percent more than the total number recorded last year when dengue infections rocketed to a 10-year high.

"Looking at the trend, it looks like it will come down but we will have to monitor some more," Goh Kee Tai, an associate professor and senior consultant in communicable diseases at the Ministry of Health told reporters.

Goh is part of a panel of seven experts appointed by Singapore to advise on the dengue outbreak and recommend control measures.

The scale of the outbreak in Singapore, a Southeast Asian island of 4.2 million people that is known for its clean streets and modern sanitation, has baffled its government and led to sweeping measures to kill mosquitoes.

Introduction of new strains of dengue virus with greater epidemic potential, as well as dense population that encourages higher disease transmission, may have led to Singapore's dengue epidemic, the panel said.

But given that Singapore has one of the best dengue control programs in the world -- Aedes aegypti mosquito populations in Singapore are so low that conventional population assessment methods are inadequate -- research is needed to develop new methods to fight future outbreaks, according to the panel.

"We have reached a new quantum level in control," said Paul Reiter, an Entomolgy professor from the Pasteur Institute.

"Because you have been so successful, the mosquito has become more effective, so you need to go that extra mile to suppress this new level of transmission," he said, referring to Singapore's control measures.

An endemic viral disease in the tropics, dengue is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Symptoms include fever, severe headache, joint and muscular pains, vomiting and rashes.

Singapore's neighbors, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, are also struggling to contain the disease, for which there is no ready vaccine.

Malaysia said on Tuesday that dengue fever in the country was nearing an epidemic after 752 cases were reported last week, 50 percent more than were recorded in the last week of August.

Source: REUTERS

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