About 40 people from the region are now in Singapore to learn
about dengue surveillance and control, making the first-ever Asia
Pacific Dengue Workshop an important step in tackling the
disease
Experts say lessons learnt won't only be useful for addressing a
threat that's re-emerging, it's necessary to counter up-and-coming
diseases like chikungunya and possibly yellow fever.
Geraldine Soh reports.
Until 2006, Nepal had not reported a single case of dengue.
Now, cases are seen even in Bhutan and Timor Leste.
In countries like Thailand and Indonesia, the number of dengue
cases have risen by up to threefold in the last five years.
In Singapore, latest figures show that about 1,200 cases were
reported in the last two months - about 25 percent more than the
same period last year.
Professor Duane Gubler, Programme Director for Emerging
Infectious Diseases at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School says
possible reasons include globalisation, rapid urbanisation and
increased cross-border travel.
Climate change, though it influences transmission, is not a
major factor.
Last year, countries in the Asia-Pacific finalised an eight-year
plan to tackle dengue.
The current inaugural eight-day dengue workshop jointly
organised by Singapore and the World Health Organisation, is a step
towards achieving the vision in that plan.
Says CEO of Singapore's National Environment Agency Andrew
Tan:
"The long-term goal is to develop a regional surveillance
network that'll allows us to to share information, not only from
the labs but also what's taking place in the field. That'll also
help reduce any duplication in efforts."
Dr Chusak Prasittisuk, WHO Coordinator for Communicable Diseases
Control in South East Asia says stepping up prevention efforts
won't only useful for dengue but chikungunya.
"It's coming very soon. Apart from Aedes Aegypti, we're
suspecting that another species can really create the outbreaks of
chikungunya."
About 9,000 cases of chikungunya were reported in the South of
Thailand in the last two months.
In Singapore, about 40 cases were reported each week in December
and January, but the NEA says it's down to about 2 a week now.
Then there's yellow fever says Dr Gubler:
"In the past in America, it caused major urban epidemics and our
concern is that if we start to see urban yellow fever in the
American tropics, now with globaliation and movement of people,
they'll very quickly move to Asian cities. If that happens, it's
going to create a global public health emergency that will make
SARS pale by comparison."
While this is not something the public should be worried about
yet, Dr Gubler says health officials ought to take note.
"It boils down to the same things you'd do to control dengue
will also control yellow fever."
--938Live