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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>10 more with chikungunya
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->TEN more people have caught chikungunya here, the Health Ministry said yesterday.
They include eight workers from Kranji Way (see other report 'Kranji fogged to control outbreak'), a foreign worker living and working at a factory in Sungei Kadut Street 1, and a housewife in Woodlands Street 81.
The Sungei Kadut worker, a 40-year-old Chinese national, fell ill on Monday and was admitted to the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) three days later.
The housewife, 27, fell ill also on Monday, but has since recovered after seeing a doctor.
Health officers have screened the worker's 38 colleagues, as well as the seven people living with the housewife. All have been found clear.
The National Environment Agency (NEA), after blitzing the areas surrounding the affected factory and home, have so far found five premises near the housewife's home breeding the Aedes mosquito which transmits the chikungunya virus.
All of the latest patients probably contracted the mosquito-borne, dengue-like disease while here.
This brings this year's total tally of those infected while in Singapore to 49. A further 46 caught the disease overseas.
This is the first year in which the infection has spread locally. Thirteen people who became ill in 2006 and last year were infected abroad.
The growth in the number of cases here follows a rising trend in other countries, noted the CDC's clinical director, Associate Professor Leo Yee Sin.
For example, Malaysia has already chalked up a record high of 136 chikungunya patients this year, up from fewer than 100 patients for the whole of last year.
Prof Leo added that Singapore was at high risk as the Aedes mosquito flourishes here. Also, the people have no immunity to the disease, and many travel overseas or visit from abroad.
Investigations are still ongoing to see if the local cases here are linked, a Health Ministry spokesman said yesterday.
She urged travellers to areas which have had chikungunya outbreaks, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and India, to wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants when outdoors and to use insect repellent.
Singapore residents should take steps to prevent mosquito breeding, she said. LEE HUI CHIEH
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->TEN more people have caught chikungunya here, the Health Ministry said yesterday.
They include eight workers from Kranji Way (see other report 'Kranji fogged to control outbreak'), a foreign worker living and working at a factory in Sungei Kadut Street 1, and a housewife in Woodlands Street 81.
The Sungei Kadut worker, a 40-year-old Chinese national, fell ill on Monday and was admitted to the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) three days later.
The housewife, 27, fell ill also on Monday, but has since recovered after seeing a doctor.
Health officers have screened the worker's 38 colleagues, as well as the seven people living with the housewife. All have been found clear.
The National Environment Agency (NEA), after blitzing the areas surrounding the affected factory and home, have so far found five premises near the housewife's home breeding the Aedes mosquito which transmits the chikungunya virus.
All of the latest patients probably contracted the mosquito-borne, dengue-like disease while here.
This brings this year's total tally of those infected while in Singapore to 49. A further 46 caught the disease overseas.
This is the first year in which the infection has spread locally. Thirteen people who became ill in 2006 and last year were infected abroad.
The growth in the number of cases here follows a rising trend in other countries, noted the CDC's clinical director, Associate Professor Leo Yee Sin.
For example, Malaysia has already chalked up a record high of 136 chikungunya patients this year, up from fewer than 100 patients for the whole of last year.
Prof Leo added that Singapore was at high risk as the Aedes mosquito flourishes here. Also, the people have no immunity to the disease, and many travel overseas or visit from abroad.
Investigations are still ongoing to see if the local cases here are linked, a Health Ministry spokesman said yesterday.
She urged travellers to areas which have had chikungunya outbreaks, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and India, to wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants when outdoors and to use insect repellent.
Singapore residents should take steps to prevent mosquito breeding, she said. LEE HUI CHIEH
