A sharp rise in dengue fever cases during the past week in Singapore has prompted health officials to issue an advisory earlier this week. The National Environmental Agency (NEA) reported nearly 900 cases of the mosquito borne illness during the past week, a significant rise from the previous week of 674 cases.
In addition, health officials note that the city-state is currently at the peak dengue season and expect the cases to rise further. The NEA also says the population of the dengue vector, Aedes aegypti, has doubled since May.
The total cases in Singapore as of Friday shows 10,186 dengue fever cases. This total, while high, is still about 23 per cent lower than that in the same period last year. In 2013, Singapore saw a record setting 23,000 cases, easily surpassing the 2005 epidemic of 14,000.
As in 2013, the DENV-1 strain accounts for 90 percent of all infections this year. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
The NEA, together with the other Government agencies from the Inter-Agency Dengue Task Force, as well as all Town Councils, is continuing to check public areas and housing estates for potential breeding grounds, with officers carrying out daily checks for breeding habitats in these areas. They report eliminating adult mosquitoes through measures such as space spraying and Gravitraps. More than 1.5 million inspections have already been carried out this year. Construction sites are a main focus of the anti-Dengue efforts in 2014.
The NEA emphasized, “We encourage everyone to be an advocate and remind his family members and neighbors to join in the collective effort to help stop the dengue transmission cycle by doing the 5-step Mozzie Wipeout. All of us, including residents, contractors, and business owners, have a part to play in preventing dengue.”
