S'pore goes all out to fight disease

S'pore goes all out to fight disease

As the Jakarta administration, as well as the nation, struggles
to contain the bird flu outbreak that has killed at least five
people in Greater Jakarta and infected others, learning about how
neighboring city-state Singapore deals with epidemic disease is
worth looking at. In this third article, The Jakarta Post's Damar
Harsanto observes the issue during a visit to the city last week
at the invitation of the Far East Organization Singapore Pte.
Ltd.

It's not for nothing that city-state Singapore has cleanliness
and orderliness as its middle name.

Without such a reputation, the government may not have been
able to curb the recent dengue fever outbreak that claimed eight
people and infected more than 100 Singaporeans per day, or over
10,200 people this year, mostly younger residents.

The outbreak, referred to by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as
a "worrying" situation, has surpassed last year's total figure of
only 9,459 cases across a country with a population of 4.2
million.

Although officials there -- just like Indonesian officials --
failed to act swiftly to residents' reports of mosquito breeding
sites, the officials, fortunately, were quick to realize their
mistake.

Yaacob Ibrahim, the minister in charge of a high-level
committee on dengue, apologized for those incidents and gave an
order to relevant authorities to break into properties to look
for hotspots of mosquito breeding.

Comparing the crisis to 2003's outbreak of severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) that killed 33 people, PM Lee
stressed the need to get people involved in the battle against
the outbreak and "to take the threat seriously".

"It is hard to understand because in the past, Singapore has
had a very sophisticated dengue surveillance and prevention
system," said Kevin Palmer, a dengue expert with the World Health
Organization (WHO) regional office in Manila was quoted as saying
by Agence France-Presse.

"Singapore is a place where dengue should not be a problem,
but it is, and there must be an explanation why we are seeing
such a big rise in cases this year," he said.

In the years past, it has been construction sites that have
become mosquito breeding grounds. Now, private residences have
been identified as the culprits.

The government says that residents with mosquito larvae
growing in their homes could face fines of between S$10 and $100.

On Sundays, hundreds of grassroots leaders and volunteers
scoured places suspected to be mosquito breeding grounds across
the city as part of house-to-house checks aimed at curbing the
outbreak.

"In the short term, we hope to reduce the Aedes aegypti
mosquito to a low level," senior parliamentary secretary Koo Tsai
Kee said.

Seven hundred staff from the Civil Defense Force, members of
parliament and others were also involved in sweeping four areas
that have been the worst hit by the outbreak.

The government also distributed flyers detailing measures to
prevent mosquito breeding.

The National Environment Agency (NEA), a government
institution in charge of overseeing environmental problems, has
opened two 24-hour tip-off hotlines -- for both English and non-
English speakers -- to report potential and actual mosquito
breeding sites.

Callers and those who send e-mails are encouraged to give
their names, contact numbers and the location and description of
mosquito breeding areas or potential breeding sites. They can
remain anonymous if they wish, the NEA said.

Since the first action was launched last Tuesday, some 1,000
calls have been logged each day, three times the usual number the
NEA gets on its general hotline.

All residents have been urged to remove water in pot plant
plates where mosquitoes like to breed. Residents of housing
blocks have been told to avoid placing potted plants over drains.

The health ministry is drawing on advice from an international
team of scientists and spending $30 million (US$18 million) on
the eradication drive.

The government has also told hospitals to suspend non-
emergency surgery to cope with the large number of dengue
patients.

WHO officials say dengue has infected more than 100,000 people
this year in Southeast Asia. An outbreak in Timor spread rapidly
to Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and
Singapore. Indonesia has been the worst hit.