Five new chikungunya infection cases reported

Lynlee Foo, Channel NewsAsia 13 Aug 08;

SINGAPORE: Five more people have caught the chikungunya virus in Singapore, said the Ministry of Health (MOH), and none of them have travelled overseas recently.

They include two foreign workers at Kranji Way – a 48-year-old worker who works and lives at the Kranji site and a 34-year-old worker who has gone to Kranji Way several times.

This brings the total number of cases linked to the Kranji Way cluster to 30.

Separately, a 31-year-old foreigner who works at Sungei Kadut Street 6 also contracted the mosquito-borne disease. Health officers have screened the worker's colleagues, as well as those he lives with. None of them have been tested positive.

Authorities also reported chikungunya infection cases in Yishun and Hougang. A 20-year-old accounts assistant living in Hougang Street 22 was admitted to hospital on August 7, but he has since recovered.

Another victim is a 42-year-old contractor who lives in Yishun Avenue 5. He fell ill late last month, but has also recovered after seeing a doctor.- CNA/so

Five new cases of chikungunya
Lee Hui Chieh, Straits Times 14 Aug 08;

THE largest cluster of chikungunya cases in Singapore continues to grow, with five new cases reported.

Two more people came down with the mosquito-borne disease at Kranji Way, bringing the total number affected there to 30, the Health Ministry said yesterday.

The latest hit are a 48-year-old Indian national who lives and works in the area, and a 34-year-old Chinese national who visited the area several times to collect materials for his company.

Both men were hospitalised and have since recovered.

At least 10 National Environment Agency (NEA) officers cleaned up the areas surrounding the Chinese national's home and workplace. They checked 10 factories and destroyed 31 mosquito breeding sites.

The NEA had already stepped up efforts to stamp out mosquitoes along Kranji Way. Following the latest cases, it has expanded the blitz to Kranji Loop, Kranji Road, as well as Kranji and Sungei Kadut industrial estates.

Fifteen NEA officers and 20 private pest control operators - seven times the usual number - have been deployed, They have checked more than 38 factories and destroyed mosquito breeding sites in 33 of them.

A third man, living in Sungei Kadut Street 1, was also diagnosed with chikungunya. The 31-year-old Bangladeshi, who works at Sungei Kadut Street 6, was hospitalised on Aug 6, three days after developing symptoms such as fever and joint pains.

Two other recent cases have also been reported in other areas.

A 42-year-old contractor living in Yishun Avenue 5 fell ill on July 26, but recovered after seeing a doctor.

He is Yishun's second chikungunya patient. Another man, living in Miltonia Close, had fallen ill a week before.

Joining them was an accounts assistant living in Hougang Street 22. He fell ill last Tuesday and was hospitalised two days later. Hehas since recovered.

The five latest patients were probably bitten by infected mosquitoes here, as they had not left Singapore recently.

They bring the tally of local cases to 54, spread over 11 areas on the island.

Before this year, nobody had ever caught the disease in Singapore. Thirteen people had been infected while abroad in 2006 and last year.

The health and environment authorities here are fighting to prevent chikungunya, which has migrated from Africa and India to South-east Asia, from being entrenched in Singapore.

More chikungunya cases, new clusters?
Alicia Wong, Today Online 14 Aug 08;

ONE IS a 42-year-old contractor living in Yishun, another is a 20-year-old accountant from Hougang, and the third is a 31-year-old Bangladeshi worker based in Sungei Kadut.

What they have in common: They have been infected with the chikungunya virus, did not recently travel overseas and moved about mostly in the vicinity of their residence and work place.

The contactor, who stayed at Yishun Avenue 5, had developed symptoms on July 26. This was about a week after a25-year-old Chinese National living at Miltonia Close, just off Yishun Ave 1, showed signs of chikungunya fever, as reported earlier.

Both the contractor and the accountant, who developed symptoms on Aug 5, have recovered. None of their household contacts tested positive for chikungunya.

Meanwhile, the Bangladeshi worker developed symptoms on Aug 3 and was admitted to hospital three days later.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) tested 124 of his household contacts and co-workers at Sungei Kadut, and none testedpositive.

Last week, a 40-year-old Chinese National living in Sungei Kadut was found to be infected. Sungei Kadut Drive is just off Kranji Way, where the largest cluster so far of chikungunya cases exists.

Yesterday, the MOH said two more foreign workers at Kranji Way — an Indian and Chinese National — were found to be infected, making a total of 30 cases in the cluster.

Could three new clusters emerge, given the latest new cases?

“Certainly there is a huge concern,” said general practitioner, Dr Chong Yeh Woei, who noted that the main worry is that chikungunya could become endemic, like dengue. “How do you get rid of it?”

The MOH told Today the new cases could be due to ongoing outbreaks in the region and more foreign workers and tourists coming here, as well as Singaporeans going overseas. It is investigating to determine possible links between the incidents and their implications.

In the view of Associate Professor Leo Yee Sin, the head of department of Infectious Diseases at Tan Tock Seng Hospital: “Containing chikungunya ... needs to take a regional and global view.”

Singaporeans are vulnerable to infection because of our low immunity, and active chikungunya transmission in areas we frequent, she added. To date, 103 cases have been reported to MOH, of which54 are instances of local transmission.