Outbreak in Singapore? Dengue Fever not COVID19 - TheWackyDuo.com - Singapore Wacky Digital Underground Outpost

Outbreak in Singapore? Dengue Fever not COVID19




Which disease will be the potential outbreak in Singapore?

There is plenty of attention given to COVID19 for the past few months. Regardless of which news platform you turn to, COVID19 seems to be on everyone's lips. There is, however, a bigger worry across the horizon and that is Dengue Fever.

Since the beginning of the year, Dengue Fever has been on the uptrend, surpassing the numbers spread during the same time period for the past years since 2017. As of Feb 15, there are already 2511 cases of Dengue Fever in Singapore with over 101 active clusters and large clusters located at various parts of Singapore.



The Clusters identified are 
  • Begonia Drive
  • Gangsa Road
  • Ang Mo Kio Ave 10
  • Jurong West Street 91
  • Blandford Drive
  • Berwick Drive

Classification
Alert Level
High-risk area with 10 or more cases
RED
High risk area with less than 10 cases
Yellow
No new cases, under surveillance for the next 21 days
Green

The difference clusters are given different alert status depending on the number of cases reported.



Since 2016, the predominant dengue virus strain has been Dengue Virus Serotype 2 (DENV-2). For this year, DENV-3 has since taken over DENV-3 strain in Jan (47% vs 39%). As Singapore, population immunity against dengue is generally low, the rise in DENV-3 is a concern since it had not been in circulation since 2016. Dengue Fever is transmitted by Aedes Mosquitoes that are identified by the black and white strips on the body and legs.


Dengue Symptoms
The following are symptoms of Dengue that one should take note of.
Sudden onset of fever from 2 to 7 days
Severe headaches with retro-orbital (behind the eye) pain
Joint and muscle pain
Skin Rash
Nausea and Vomiting
Bleeding from the nose or gums
Easy bruising of the skin


Prevention of Dengue
Source: NEA
The main source of dengue breeding in stagnant water, follow the 5 steps recommended by NEA to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. In addition, if you are heading to cluster areas, apply insect repellent to protect yourselves.




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