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  Today Online 11 May 07
40% rise in dengue cases over last year
More homes found breeding Aedes mosquito
Gracia Chiang

Channel NewsAsia 10 May 07
More homes breeding mosquitoes, number of dengue cases up

SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) has revealed worrying trends about dengue.

For the first four months of this year, the number of dengue hot spots has reached 96. This is double what was recorded over the same period last year.

NEA is concerned about this and wants the public to do more to bring down the rising numbers.

In April, some 15,000 mosquito larvae were found in homes - a three-fold jump compared to about 4,600 found in February. Some 400 homes were found to be fertile breeding grounds in April, more than twice the number recorded in February, when about 140 homes were identified as mosquito haven.

It is not even mid May and already, there are over 1,300 (1308) cases of those down with dengue (as of 5 May).

This is high, considering that the total number of cases reported for the whole of last year was about 3,120 - the lowest since 2004. That year, the number of dengue cases was 9,459 while in 2005, some 14,209 cases were recorded.

NEA added that the number of weekly cases is also going up.

Says Satish Appoo, Director, National Health Department, National Environment Agency, "Perhaps our success last year to keep the cases low could have lulled the residents into a sense of complacency but I think we should very quickly snap out of this slumber and get into action and make sure that there is no place in the homes for mosquitos to breed.

"What we would like residents and others to do is to take immediate action to reduce breeding in their homes."

So the NEA has started the second part of what it calls its "Intensified Source Reduction Exercise", where officers will target homes in 44 areas which are prone to outbreaks.

The first part of the exercise, which targets common areas outside HDB flats, showed an improvement in the number of breeding habitats found outside homes.

The NEA however has urged homeowners not to wait until its officers come knocking on their doors before they take action. It says that home owners should remain vigilant at all times and get rid of stagnant water in common breeding areas such as flower pots and pails.

As at 8 May, 25 dengue clusters - places where there are active dengue transmissions - have been recorded. The largest clusters are at Jalan Songket / Hougang St 21 with 19 cases reported so far, and Balestier Road / Martaban Road, with 9 cases. - CNA/yy

Today Online 11 May 07
40% rise in dengue cases over last year
More homes found breeding Aedes mosquito
Gracia Chiang gracia@mediacorp.com.sg

In what is described as a "worrying trend" by the National Environment Agency (NEA), more people are suffering from dengue and the number of homes found breeding the deadly Aedes mosquito is rising.

As of last Saturday, 1,308 dengue cases were recorded, a near 40-per-cent jump over the same period last year.

This is partly driven by a spike in the number of breeding habitats that has jumped three-fold in two months, said NEA's head of environment health, Mr S Satish Appoo.

And there are now 25 clusters where active dengue transmission has been reported, the worst-hit being Jalan Songket at Hougang, an area with many landed properties. Other affected areas include Balestier Road/Marbatan Road and Ho Ching Road/Tao Ching Road.

"Perhaps our success last year to keep the cases low could have lulled our residents into a sense of complacency but we should snap out of this slumber quickly, get into action and make sure there's no place in the home for mosquitoes to breed," said Mr Satish.

Dengue has not caused any fatality this year yet, said the Ministry of Health, although it fingers this as a possible cause in the recent death of a 42-year-old man.

Apart from the fact that this is mosquito breeding season, the dengue outbreak is also due to the change in the virus strain, said Mr Satish. "Once anyone is down with Den-1 virus, you are immune to the virus for life, but when there is a switch to Den-2, all those who are bitten are no longer immune to Den-2," he added.

More patients were also infected outside of Singapore, 12 per cent of dengue cases from January to April this year are imported, up from 9 per cent last year.

"Experts have described Singapore to be in a 'sea of dengue' … you have countries around us with a lot of dengue cases," said Mr Satish.

The NEA is now embarking on the second phase of its exercise, which involves going into homes at 44 dengue-prone locations to search and destroy larvae in stagnant water.

Results from the first phase have been encouraging, with the breeding habitats found outside homes decreasing from 1,352 in 2006 to 778 this year.

Singaporean Goh Ang Jee, 58, said he does not even dare to grow plants any-more. "Having such campaigns and checking on people's homes will help the public to notice this is really a problem. If not, a lot of Singaporeans won't even care or they don't know what to do," said the Ang Mo Kio resident.
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