Singapore: two more probable cases of Chikungunya fever detected

Channel NewsAsia 18 Jan 08;

SINGAPORE : Two more persons have been reported to be down with Chikungunya fever.

Both men have been sent to isolation wards at the Communicable Disease Centre.

This brings the total number of people infected with the virus to eight.

The Health Ministry (MOH) said all eight were staying in the same row of shophouses on Clive Street in Little India.

Since none of them have travelled overseas recently, it is likely that they contracted the disease in Singapore.

Of the eight, four have since recovered.

The rest are still under observation in the hospital.

Chikungunya fever, like dengue fever, is contracted after a person has been bitten by an infected Aedes mosquito.

The symptoms are similar for both and there is currently no vaccine or cure.

The first case of locally-transmitted Chikungunya fever in Singapore was reported on January 14.

Since then, MOH and the National Environment Agency (NEA) have screened close to 500 people living or working in the Clive Street area.

NEA officers have also inspected over 1,800 premises in the district.

A total of 35 indoor and outdoor mosquito breeding sites has been found and destroyed. - CNA/ms

Two more found with chikungunya fever
There are now 8 victims; 500 who live or work near them have been screened
Lee Hui Chieh & Amy Tan, Straits Times 19 Jan 08;

THE mosquito-borne, dengue-like illness chikungunya has hit two more people, who are now in hospital.

This brings to eight the total number of victims - four of whom are at the Communicable Disease Centre.

It is the first time the illness has broken out here.

Before this outbreak, there have been 13 other cases of chikungunya here, but all were imported.

Patients suffer symptoms similar to dengue: fever, joint pains, chills and nausea, which usually last three to 10 days.

There is no cure for this rarely fatal illness, which usually goes away on its own. Treatment involves medication for the fever and pain, and fluids to prevent dehydration.

The disease is spread by the Aedes mosquito, and not from human to human.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has yet to solve the mystery of how the outbreak here began.

Dr Lyn James, the director of MOH's communicable diseases division, reckons that someone who was infected overseas but fell sick here got the infections going.

This individual was probably bitten by mosquitoes before he recovered; the mosquitoes then spread the virus by biting other people, she said.

The authorities have yet to identify this 'Patient Zero', but have pulled out all the stops to stamp out the infection before it becomes entrenched.

After health officers were notified on Monday by a general practitioner that his patient, a 27-year-old man from Bangladesh, had contracted chikungunya, they have been screening those who live or work within a 150m radius of that patient.

Officers descended on Clive Street in Little India, where the man lives in a shophouse, and found five more victims living along that street. The latest two were also from there.

Health officers have so far sent blood samples from close to 500 people in that neighbourhood to the Environmental Health Institute of the National Environment Agency (NEA) for testing.

Those who have been hospitalised were those whose blood tests showed that they had the virus in their blood.

Getting them into hospital forestalls their being bitten by mosquitoes again, which could then spread the disease further.

Two of the four who have been hospitalised - one of whom is a visiting 38-year-old farmer from India, Vidwasekar Gnanasigamani - still have a fever. The remaining four patients have recovered.

The NEA has intensified efforts to wipe out mosquitoes in the Clive Street area.

Since Monday, it has inspected 1,879 premises and destroyed 35 breeding sites - 25 indoor and 10 outdoor. It has also fogged the area.

Mr H. Kumar, the landlord of the unit where the 27-year-old Bangladeshi and Mr Vidwasekar were staying, said the NEA officers did not find mosquito breeding sites there.

But they asked him to tidy up his ground-floor shop unit, where he stores waste paper and cardboard boxes for his recycling business.

Mr N. Veera, a shopkeeper at a printing materials shop along the same street, said that NEA officers had checked the toilets in his shop. He added that he was 'not worried about chikungunya because there are so many measures taken'.

MOH and NEA yesterday advised those who have been in the Clive Street area recently and are running a temperature to see a doctor.

They also urged people to check their premises daily to remove stagnant water that could breed mosquitoes.

Two more found likely to have chikungunya fever in Clive Street area
Today Online 19 Jan 08

Another two probable cases of chikungunya fever have been found at Clive Street, where Singapore's first cases of local transmission of the virus have occurred. This brings the number infected to eight.

All eight are at the Communicable Disease Centre for further medical assessment, and four have been admitted for isolation and management.

The virus is transmitted in the same way as dengue – through mosquitoes. All eight patients, who do not have a history of recent travel, lived within the same row of shophouses.

Since Jan 14, when the authorities were informed of the first case of chikungunya fever, the Health Ministry and the National Environment Agency's Environmental Health Institute have screened close to 500 people living or working in the Clive Street area.

The NEA has inspected 1,879 premises in the area. A total of 25 indoor breeding and 10 outdoor breeding sites were detected and destroyed. Residents and owners are advised to check their premises daily to remove any stagnant water that may breed mosquitoes.

Those who have been in the Clive Street area recently and have developed a fever are advised to consult their doctors. — TAN HUI LENG

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