Singapore is seeing one of the worst dengue seasons in several years, with more cases so far this year than the last two years combined.
Assistant Professor Vincent Pang, Director, Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research (CIDER), attributed the rise of dengue clusters in certain areas to three factors: 1) greater clustering of households within a residential area, 2) low cluster herd immunity, and 3) high frequency of residents travelling to dengue-endemic countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
He added that areas with a greater number of construction sites are also more susceptible to dengue, and thus it is important for those in the construction industry to look out for potential mosquito breeding areas within their work sites and monitor the trend of workers who fell ill due to dengue.
“Elderly and individuals with co-morbidities such as diabetes are also at higher risk of severe dengue. Hence, they should protect themselves from getting bitten by mosquitoes by applying insect repellent frequently when they are both indoors and outdoors,” added Dr Pang.
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