By NewsDesk   @bactiman63

Dengue fever

In a follow-up on the dengue situation in Singapore, health officials are reporting the 4th dengue – related fatality of the year in a 63 year-old-man.

Aedes aegypti/CDC

The number of dengue fever cases reported to date (4237 as of this writing) have already exceeded the total for all of 2018 by nearly 1000 cases.

Health Ministry officials urged residents and property owners to cooperate fully and environmental officials to inspect their premises for mosquito breeding and to spray insecticide to kill any mosquitoes.

“We need to remain vigilant and continue to work as a community to suppress the Aedes mosquito population and keep dengue cases in check. Source eradication of mosquito breeding habitats and spraying of insecticides to control the adult mosquito population remain key to dengue prevention.”

NEA encourages all residents and stakeholders to do their part to help stem dengue transmission, by doing the 5-step Mozzie Wipeout as follows:
• Turn the pail
• Tip the vase
• Flip the flowerpot plate
• Loosen the hardened soil
• Clear the roof gutter and place Bti insecticide inside

Monkeypox quarantine

In a follow-up on the monkeypox case and investigation from earlier this month, the Ministry of Health (MOH) says all 22 close contacts of the imported case of monkeypox in Singapore have completed their quarantine, after having been monitored for the maximum incubation period of 21 days from their last date of exposure to the patient. The last close contact completed quarantine on 28 May 2019. All close contacts are well and remain asymptomatic.

Eight other contacts who were assessed to have a low risk of being infected had been put on active surveillance, where they were called twice daily to monitor their health progress. To date, all contacts have reported to be well and asymptomatic. The active surveillance ended yesterday.

The patient, a 38-year-old Nigerian national who tested positive for monkeypox on 8 May, has recovered and has been assessed to be non-infectious. He was discharged from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases on 24 May 2019 and left Singapore on the same day.

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