Nine probable cases of chikungunya fever detected as of Jan 20
Channel NewsAsia 21 Jan 08;
SINGAPORE: Nine probable cases of chikungunya fever have been detected as of Sunday.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) said all nine were assessed at the Communicable Disease Centre at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and five of them remain in the hospital for isolation and management.
Eight of the probable cases are from the same section of Clive Street, while the ninth is from the nearby vicinity of Dickson Road.
The MOH said more than 800 people in the Clive Street area have been screened since the first case was detected on 14 January.
The NEA inspected more than 2,500 premises in Little India, and a total of 33 indoor breeding and 10 outdoor breeding sites were detected and destroyed.
Residents and premise owners have been advised to check their premises daily to remove any stagnant water that may breed mosquitoes.
Persons infected with chikungunya fever should stay indoors to reduce the risk of further transmission of the virus.
Those who have been in the Clive Street area recently and have developed a fever are advised to consult their doctors. - CNA/ac
CHIKUNGUNYA OUTBREAK
One more found with disease, NEA steps up mosquito control efforts
Lee Hui Chieh, Straits Times 22 Jan 08;
ONE more individual has been found to be infected with chikungunya, the mosquito-borne, dengue-like disease, bringing the total number infected so far to nine.
Five are in the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC). The others have recovered.
The latest patient to be diagnosed lodged in Dickson Road, off Clive Street, where all the other cases originated.
All nine patients are foreign nationals, mostly from Bangladesh and India.
Like dengue, chikungunya is spread by the Aedes mosquito and causes similar symptoms such as fever, joint pains and nausea, but is rarely fatal.
The CDC's clinical director, Associate Professor Leo Yee Sin, told The Straits Times yesterdaythat as the number of infected patients is low, there is probably not a large 'human reservoir' of virus which can be spread to mosquitoes, and then to more humans.
She added: 'Coupled with good mosquito control, it is hopeful that this outbreak is under control.'
A Health Ministry spokesman noted that infections have been limited to the Clive Street area.
But the outbreak will be considered over only when no new cases have been found within 24 days of the previous one, she said.
Since health officers were first notified of a case by a general practitioner last Monday, they have taken blood samples from 822 people living or working within a 150m radius of the patient.
Over the past week, the National Environment Agency has intensified mosquito control efforts.
It has checked 2,514 premises, destroyed 43 breeding sites - 33 indoor, and 10 outdoor - and fined 27 people for having breeding sites on their properties.
It has also fogged the Clive Street vicinity repeatedly.
Many patients were from the same shophouse in Clive Street. Another, a male tourist from India, lodged in a shophouse opposite.
An assistant in a wine shop on the ground floor of the second shophouse, Mr Dhasan Munusamy, 40, said the shop gets about 20 customers a day now, down from about 30 before.
He said: 'Families are scared. We try to take care of our customers by spraying insecticide, and checking for stagnant water twice a day.'
