Dengue cases in Singapore fall for third straight year

Ng Lian Chong/Cheryl Lim, Channel NewsAsia 10 Jan 10;

SINGAPORE: The number of dengue cases in Singapore has fallen for the third consecutive year.

4,452 people caught dengue last year, of whom eight died, according to the Ministry of Health. There were 6,754 cases in 2008 and 8,637 in 2007.

During a dengue epidemic in 2005, there were nearly 14,000 cases and 25 deaths.

Research on the virus suggests the number of dengue cases tends to spike every six to seven years. Hence, Singapore is likely to see a surge in cases within the next two years.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) says it will continue to target dengue hotspots, especially in outdoor areas like construction sites. It is confident it will be able to control the dengue fever situation in Singapore.

NEA's CEO, Andrew Tan, said: "So long as we keep up the vigilance, we will be able to keep the incidents low. Going forward, we will continue to have these strategies where we have to tackle the problem at the source. There is a lot of public education that needs to be done."

- CNA/ir