Dengue cases on the rise!

last SG · 2005-07-20T12:00:00+00:00

oh u were lucky.. i heard a fren kenna n stayed 5days in hospital... n had difficulty breathing too...

jojoma SG

I guess it is due to construction or up-grading in the East.

mistyblue SG

yeah hor... lift upgrading... everyone was forced into it...

Kenashi SG

my area classified as one of the blacklisted zone liao Neutral
Hope I don't ganna

BabyLover SG

actually east n west oso got... i trying to get the list lah..
ST dun let mi save Laughing

BabyLover SG

be careful lor.. mayb put some lotion

BabyLover SG

TehJarVu SG

the wen zi very big Laughing

BabyLover SG

dun rub it in Laughing

whrs pct! help

choco B SG

Heheh, where's the zoom button?

My friend lives in the east and she's hospitalised for dengue.

BabyLover SG

hehehe.. i duno wat happen.. save n open ok den upload becum like tt...
will try to enlarge ltr Laughing

heard alot of cases frm east side de.. scary

choco B SG

Woot the good news is that she was discharged yesterday and is home now!

BabyLover SG

ok click on this link for the dengue places

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/media/image/launched/2005-08-26/deng.pdf

BabyLover SG

tats gd! Smile

poon cho tang SG

it's actual size Laughing

Kenashi SG

most likely I will just sleep with my blanket on n having my fan blowing at me directly

BabyLover SG

wat abt getting those electric mosq repellant? tink it works lor..

BabyLover SG

Sept 1, 2005
8th dengue death

Dengue cases hit new high as weekly average soars to 493, bringing total this year to 8,300
By Radha Basu

DENGUE fever has claimed at least its eighth life of the year, as infections continue to soar to record levels.

EARLIER DETECTION: Dr Adrian Ong and his Eden team are testing diagnosis kits that can detect dengue more quickly.

Pastor Cheah, who is believed to have died at Alexandra Hospital, leaves behind his wife Lim Lee Choo. He is likely to have died from dengue haemorrhagic fever, or DHF, a severe form of the disease that usually hits patients who have already suffered one or more previous bouts of dengue.

Health Ministry records show a sharp rise in DHF cases, although they still make up only about 3.5 per cent of all dengue cases here. There were 11 DHF infections here last week. This time last year, there was an average of three cases per week.

Meanwhile, the war against dengue is hotting up in laboratories across Singapore. A multi-centre research project launched recently, nicknamed Early Dengue or Eden, has scientists working to test kits that can detect the disease more quickly.

Most affordable tests can detect the disease only five to seven days after infection, but researchers are testing a tool developed by the Environmental Health Institute (EHI) that can detect it within hours of a patient falling sick.

Commercially available kits that use the same technique, known as polymerase chain reaction or PCR, cost about $100 per test, beyond the reach of many patients.

The new EHI tests, says the institute's head Ng Lee Ching, are likely to cost a fraction of the price of current PCR kits, though prices haven't been decided yet.

The Eden project also hopes to collect data on the early manifestation of the disease.

'Since dengue is usually diagnosed only five to seven days after a patient has fever, very little is known about how the disease progresses in adults in the early stages,' said principal investigator Adrian Ong from TTSH. 'That's what we hope to address.'

Dr Ong's team has already collected samples from 200 patients from Ang Mo Kio Polyclinic, 50 of whom later tested positive for dengue.

Only adults who have had fever for less than three days are eligible to take part in the study, which offers free dengue tests.

As part of the study, these patients had to return twice to the polyclinic to give blood, once three days after their first test and again after two weeks, so that researchers can track how the body reacts as the disease progresses.

In the long term, Eden researchers hope the genetic data collected from blood samples of infected patients could one day be used to devise drugs to fight the disease. There are currently no treatments or vaccines.

The Genome Institute of Singapore and the Novartis Institute of Tropical Diseases (NITD) are working on this aspect of the project.

'We are trying to understand what makes different people react differently to the same virus,' said Dr Subhash Vasudevan, who heads NITD's dengue unit.

[email protected]

BabyLover SG

Dengue hotspots

CENTRAL

Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 (Block 437, 435), Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 (Block 178, 177, 175, 181, 172, 171), Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 (Block 636, 640), Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 (Block 345, 344, 313), Bishan Street 12 (Block 137), Beach Road (Block 1, 2), Circuit Road (Block 46, 42, 47, 37), Clifton Vale / Mackerrow Road, Jalan Lanjut, Li Hwan Close / Drive - Golden Hill Estate, Ontario Avenue - Windsor, Rangoon Lane / Sing Avenue, Shunfu Road (Block 309, 307, 312, 315, 310, 306), Lorong 1 Toa Payoh (Block 113, 115), Veerasamy Road (Block 633, 634).

NORTH

Da Silva Lane, Hougang Avenue 1 (Block 234, 230, 232, 236, 237, 233, 238 ), Hougang Avenue 3 (Block 1, 4), Hougang Avenue 3 (Block 19, 21), Hougang Street 11 (Block 156, 154), Lorong 1 / Lorong 6 / Lorong 7 Realty Park - People's Garden, Lorong Lew Lian - Cherry Hill Condo (Block 27, 25), Lorong Lew Lian (Block 1, 3) / Serangoon Central(Block 3, 418, 2, 1), Marsiling Crescent (Block 212, 213), Marsiling Drive (Block 205), Marsiling Drive (Block 27, 26, 25), Potong Pasir Avenue 1 (Block 105, 107), Jalan Rindu / Lorong Gambir, Jalan Salang - Sembawang Spring Estate, Serangoon Avenue 3 (Block 334), Woodlands Avenue 1 (Block 339, 340), Woodlands Street 31 (Block 312, 314), Yishun Avenue 5 (Block 741), Yishun Street 72 (Block 738, 737), Yishun Ring Road (Block 103), Yishun Ring Road (Block 236 - 239, 240), Yishun Ring Road (Block 853) / Street 81 (Block 852), Yishun Street 21 (Block 212, 211, 208 ), Yishun Street 72 (Block 755, 756, 757, 752, 759, 760)

WEST

Bukit Batok West Avenue 6 (Block 131, 128 ), Clementi West Street 2 (Block 705, 710), Choa Chu Kang Central (Block 208,210, 211, 212, 213, 215), Teck Whye Lane (Block 9) / Teck Whye Avenue (Block 10)

EAST

Bedok North Street 3 (Block 504), Lorong K / Lorong J Telok Kurau, Geylang Bahru (Block 61, 59A, 63), Geylang Bahru Lane, Geylang East Avenue 1 (Block 124), Lor 35 Geylang (Block 8, 6, 5A), Pine Close (Block 7, 11), Siglap Road (Block 462, 460, 456) / Fidelio Street, Joo Chiat Road / Onan Road, Tampines Street 33 (Block 341,342) Sims Avenue (Block 830, 848, 844, 846, 840, 832), Tampines Street 72 (Block 739, 741, 742), Tampines Street 83 (Block 863, 727, 863B) / Street 71.

Source: www.moh.gov.sg/dengue_hotspots

BabyLover SG

Sept 9, 2005
The culprit's the Aedes mosquito

The dengue-causing Aedes mosquito can breed in a tiny drop of water and reach homes as high as the 21st floor. Radha Basu finds out more about this wily insect

The Aedes Aegypti and Aedes Albopictus mosquitoes, which cause dengue, are among more than 50 species of mosquitoes found in Singapore. They can be easily identified by their characteristic black-and-white stripes.

BRED IN CAPTIVITY: The Aedes Albopictus pupae bred in the research lab of the Environmental Health Institute at the Science Park. -- STEPHANIE YEOW

Aedes mosquitoes usually breed in clean, still pools of water, but they can breed in drain water and muddy water too. A film of water the size of a 20-cent coin is enough for a mosquito to lay eggs.

In the wild, it lives for about two weeks.
On average, a female mosquito lays 300 eggs during its life.

GROWING MENACE: Larvae of the Aedes Albopictus and Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which spread dengue, in the research lab. -- STEPHANIE YEOW

Aedes mosquitoes bite most often at dawn and dusk, and are generally active throughout the day. The malaria-causing Culex mosquito, on the other hand, is usually active at night.

Aedes mosquitoes thrive in warmer weather. Studies have shown that the length of time required for them to grow from an egg into an adult insect decreases dramatically as the temperature rises. At 15 deg C for example, it takes more than 40 days, but at 30 deg C, it takes only a week. However, in extreme heat, the gestation period increases again.

Higher temperatures also mean the dengue virus can replicate or multiply faster inside the mosquito.

WELL-FED: The Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes bred in the lab get sugar solution with vitamin B12. -- STEPHANIE YEOW

An Aedes mosquito is a strong flier - a recent local study found that they can cover up to 740m, which means it can cover several Housing Board blocks.

The mosquito can even reach homes in higher floors. A recent study by the Environmental Health Institute found Aedes mosquitoes on the 21st storey of a vacant Housing Board block where the lifts were not in operation.

An Aedes mosquito is usually infected by the dengue virus by biting an infected person. The virus needs to incubate in the mosquito for at least seven days before it can be transmitted.

Transmission is also through mosquito bites. An infected person shows signs of dengue - typically the abrupt onset of high fever - between two and 14 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito.

Adult female mosquitoes carrying the virus can infect their eggs. However, the chances of this happening are very low.

Homes account for 55 per cent of all Aedes mosquito breeding sites.

Breeding has risen sharply in common Housing Board areas such as common corridors in HDB estates, rooftops and pump rooms. These areas now account for 36 per cent of all breeding sites, up from 21 per cent last year. These areas are under the purview of the town councils.

sgboy2004 SG

omg Shocked Shocked Shocked

they are everywhere... hope Kallang River dun have hor...else they will pour insecticide in the river...wah piangz Mad

« Previous Page Next Page »