Mosquito breeding on the rise

Mustafa Shafawi Channel NewsAsia 16 Jul 10;

SINGAPORE : The National Environment Agency (NEA) said its officers have conducted more than 3 million inspections of mosquito breeding in the first half of this year.

It said this was an almost 70 per cent increase compared to last year.

And it was not too pleased with what its 1,000 officers had found.

The number of homes found breeding mosquitoes has increased by more than 35 per cent to close to 6,000 compared to the same period last year.

NEA said its officers are still finding breeding sites despite repeated inspections of homes in areas with ongoing dengue transmission.

For example, three rounds of back-to-back inspections of homes at a recent cluster at Serangoon North Ave 4 yielded 58, 23 and 8 breeding sites respectively.

NEA's head of Operations, Tai Ji Choong, said this is a key concern, making it even more difficult to stop the transmission of dengue within a neighbourhood.

The number of mosquito breeding sites found outside homes has also increased.

From January to June this year, NEA found some 1,600 breeding habitats in Town Council management premises and 3,000 in non-residential premises.

The number of construction sites found breeding mosquitoes has increased to 700 in the first 6 months of this year.

So far this year, NEA has issued two stop work orders and issued 700 fines to contractors, ranging from S$200 to S$50,000.

NEA is urging the public to step up efforts to remove stagnant water in view of the increasing number of mosquito breeding sites.

It said resources are also being committed to break the transmission in clusters as quickly as possible and to monitor construction sites closely.

Members of the Inter-agency Dengue Taskforce will also do their part. They have been alerted to be more vigilant during this period and to mobilise extra resources to step up on vector control operations in areas managed by the respective agencies.

The average number of dengue cases recorded weekly for the warmer months of April to June has increased from 66 cases per week in April to 108 cases per week in June this year.

As for the total number of dengue cases this year, as of July 3, it stood at 2,100, compared to about 2,800 cases recorded during the same period last year.

- CNA/al

More breeding havens lead to dengue spike
A third more homes found with mosquito larvae; worksites and public places also fingered
By Tessa Wong Straits Times 17 Jul 10;

THERE has been a sharp spike in the number of dengue cases over the past few months, leading the authorities to issue a reminder yesterday about preventive action.

While dengue cases usually go up during the warmer months of May, June and July, the situation this year appears to be different.

The number of cases has gone up by 63 per cent, from an average of 66 per week in April to 108 per week last month.

This is a sharp contrast to the situation last year, which saw a much smaller percentage increase during the same period, said a spokesman for the National Environment Agency (NEA).

The rise in the number of cases coincides with an increase in breeding areas.

In particular, more homes have been found to be breeding places for mosquitoes, despite stepped-up checks from NEA officers and public education efforts.

A third more homes have been found with mosquito larvae this year.

A total of 5,912 homes were found breeding the insects in the first half of this year, compared with 4,361 homes in the same period last year.

Yesterday, the NEA urged residents to check their homes at least once a week for stagnant water in containers.

'If home owners continue to breed mosquitoes, the mosquito population will build up. This will make it even more difficult to stop the transmission of dengue within a neighbourhood,' said Mr Tai Ji Choong, NEA's head of operations.

In addition to homes, more construction sites and public places have also been found to be breeding mosquitoes, which thrive in clean, stagnant water.

There were 700 construction sites found breeding mosquitoes from January to June this year, compared with 470 in the same period last year.

NEA has issued two stop-work orders and 700 tickets with fines ranging from $200 to $50,000 to contractors so far this year.

Public areas are also turning out to be mosquito havens.

Housing estates and non-residential areas, especially, are fertile grounds.

NEA found 1,561 breeding habitats in the public areas of housing estates in the first six months of this year. This compares with 1,081 in the same period last year.

In non-residential places such as factories, schools, and shopping centres, inspectors found 3,006 breeding grounds in the first half of the year; a big jump from the 2,342 for the corresponding period last year.

When asked if the spike in breeding areas was due to the unusually rainy weather in recent weeks, the NEA declined to answer.

Total rainfall last month was 10 times more than that in June last year.

In the meantime, the NEA is stepping up its checks.

The agency said it made 3.14 million inspections of public areas and homes between January and June this year, about 69 per cent more than in the same period last year.

The jump in the number of dengue cases has a worrying backdrop: In March this year, NEA said other strains of dengue fever were becoming more rampant.

Typically, people get dengue Type 2, but the numbers of Type 1, 3 and 4 cases have been growing.

The problem is that there are fewer people in Singapore immune to these strains, because they are uncommon.

A person who has caught one dengue type has lifelong immunity to it, but not to others.

When asked yesterday if this year's increase in breeding grounds and dengue cases will see a concurrent spike in people contracting uncommon strains of dengue, the NEA also declined to answer.