Second dengue fever fatality reported in Singapore
With the number of dengue fever cases in Singapore well above 9,000 at last count, health authorities there are reporting the second death from the mosquito borne virus in the city-state.
Aedes aegypti
Image/CDC
Health officials say the victim is a 66-year-old man who died on Sunday. This comes more than a week after a 20-year-old man died in late May.
According to the case, the man went to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital on Wednesday with fever, shortness of breath, vomiting and rash on his left leg. He was diagnosed with skin inflammation of the left leg and prescribed with antibiotics.
Two days later, he returned to the hospital and was diagnosed with dengue fever and admitted to the hospital ICU.
According to the Singaporean National Environmental Agency’s dengue fever website, there has been 9,139 cases reported since the beginning of the year.
This contrasts with the 4,632 cases reported through all of last year and 5,330 reported in 2011.
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 and muscle pain that feels like bones are breaking.
People get the dengue virus from the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. It is not contagious from person to person.
There are three types of dengue fever in order of less severe to most: the typical uncomplicated dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHS) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS).
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[…] The week of June 2 to 8 showed Singapore’s highest one week total of the year with more than 800 cases. To date, there has been two deaths attributed to dengue fever. […]