Singapore sees spike in dengue fever, total cases top 16,000
After reporting a significant drop in dengue fever cases about one month ago, Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) is now reporting an upward trend in news cases of the mosquito borne viral disease.
The first week of August this year showed the number of cases to approximately 250, the lowest in some time. However, since that time, the NEA has seen a small spike in cases with the number of cases reported in the first week of September at 455.
According to the NEA, the total number of dengue cases this year has eclipsed 16,000 and currently stands at 16,054. This is up from 14,413 cases one month ago.
This contrasts with the 4,632 cases reported through all of last year and 5,330 reported in 2011.
There has been five locally-acquired dengue fever deaths reported in Singapore this year.
Dengue fever is an infectious disease carried by mosquitoes and caused by any of four related dengue viruses. This disease used to be called “break-bone fever” because it sometimes causes severe joint andmuscle pain that feels like bones are breaking.
Dengue fever of multiple types is found in most countries of the tropics and subtropics particularly during and after rainy season.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimate 100 million cases annually with an increase in the amount of epidemics reported in many parts of the world in recent years.
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