Singapore : Woman in her late 50s becomes first dengue death this year

Via Straits Times :

" Singapore has had its first dengue death this year. The victim, a woman who had been transferred from Changi General Hospital to Gleneagles Hospital under an existing agreement between the two, died on Wednesday.

The woman, believed to be in her late 50s, was moved to the private hospital at the end of last year. Her condition deteriorated and she was moved to intensive care. She died of dengue hemorrhagic fever."

Singapore : Dengue still spreading in Orchard Road cluster, 93 people infected so far

Article via Straits Times :

" Dengue is still spreading along Orchard Road and the adjoining areas.

So far, 93 people have been infected in the Orchard Road cluster - making it the second-largest cluster in the country. More than half are workers at a construction site there.

Another 40 people have been infected in adjoining clusters in areas such as Oxley Road, Devonshire Road and Leonie Hill."

Singapore : Dengue cases remain high, with 656 so far this week

Via Straits Times :

" DENGUE fever cases have remained high this week, with 656 people diagnosed with the disease till 3pm yesterday.

The total for this week is on course to be around those of the previous two, when cases hit 815 in the week beginning June 2 and 810 the week after.

However, it is unlikely that the figure will pass 1,000 cases this week. Experts have predicted that this is likely to happen before the epidemic is over.

The National Environment Agency has quashed talk that the haze could stem the spread of dengue, saying there is no link between the two. In fact, a spokesman said, "although a haze blanketed much of South-east Asia from late 1997 to early 1998, the number of dengue cases in Singapore during these years was the highest recorded in the 1990s".

There are now more than 60 active clusters. The biggest is still at Tampines. There have been more than 190 cases there in one cluster alone."

Malaysia has 'alarming' number of diabetic adults

Article via Straits Times :

" KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysia has the highest number of diabetics in Asean with an estimated 3.6 million adults affected by the condition, said the country's Obesity Prevention Council, calling this statistic "alarming".

The number also puts Malaysia in sixth place in the western pacific region, said council president Jong Koi Chong at the fourth national diabetes conference in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

More than 15 per cent of the adult population was diabetic, according to the latest study in 2011, almost double the rate of 8.6 percent in 2006, he said."

Singapore : Current dengue virus strain replicates 3 times faster

Via Straits Times, excerpt :

" THE dominant dengue virus strain causing the current epidemic is a "fit and healthy" one which can replicate inside mosquitoes at three times the speed of strains that circulated last year.

Dr Ng Lee Ching, director of the Environment Health Institute, explained that the insects are becoming infectious much faster after getting the virus from a human with the disease, therefore this virus strain carries a higher epidemic potential.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said it does not know if the virus replicates itself as rapidly inside humans, as no tests have been done on this."

Singapore : Fewer cases of severe dengue fever

Via Straits Times, excerpt : 

" Although more dengue cases are being diagnosed, the good news is that only a small number of people have come down with a more severe form of the disease.

As of Monday, 9,429 people had fallen victim to the dengue virus. But only 38, or 0.4 per cent, of them developed the more serious dengue haemorrhagic fever.

This is a marked decline from the 2005 dengue outbreak, which recorded almost 14,000 infections, 2.8 per cent of which were dengue haemorrhagic fever cases."

Singapore : Dengue outbreak in Ang Mo Kio Avenues 5 and 10

Article via Straits Times :

" Two areas in Ang Mo Kio have been hit with a spate of dengue fever.

Since April 12, 53 people living in Ang Mo Kio Avenues 5 and 10 have caught the viral disease. The cases are from 19 housing blocks in the area.

A National Environment Agency (NEA) spokesman said the outbreak was the largest so far this year.
A dengue cluster is formed when there are two or more dengue cases in an area within two weeks."

Singapore : Efforts stepped up as dengue cases in Siglap rise to 10 Efforts stepped up as dengue cases in Siglap rise to 10

Via Straits Times :

" Residents in Siglap are on the alert for possible mosquito breeding areas after more people in the area were hit by dengue fever.

The number of dengue cases in Opera Estate has grown from three last week to 10 on Thursday.

As a result, the National Environment Agency (NEA), which is in charge of dengue control, has intensified operations in the neighbourhood."

Hong Kong school closed in bird flu scare

Via Straits Times :

" A Hong Kong school was closed on Friday after a dead bird found in the southern Chinese city was tested positive for the deadly H5 strain of the bird flu virus, health officials said.

The closure came after the school clerk, a 48-year-old woman, picked up a sick black-headed gull at the school on Tuesday, which died the next day and was tested positive for the H5 strain, a health department spokesman told AFP.

She picked up the bird - a common winter visitor - without any protection and developed a fever, sore throat and diarrhoea but has tested negative for Influenza A (H5), a variant of bird flu.

'She has been cleared in the medical results we received today but tests on her 11-year-old son are still ongoing, with results expected to be released later Friday,' said the spokesman."

New tuberculosis cases in Singapore on the rise

Via Straits Times :

" The number of new cases of tuberculosis (TB) is on the rise among Singaporeans and foreigners.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) was alerted to 2,791 new cases last year, a figure 10.9 per cent higher than the 2,517 in 2009.

Even among residents alone, that is, citizens and permanent residents, the rise is palpable: 795 new cases surfaced between January and June this year."

Singapore : Third student at Bedok school diagnosed with tuberculosis

Article via Straits Times :

" A Secondary 4 student from Bedok Town Secondary School has been diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) - the third student from the school found to have the infectious disease this year.

On Monday night, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that this new case was 'not an identified contact' of the other two students, who contracted TB in April and July this year.

The three were from different academic levels and were not close contacts, said a ministry spokesman."

Iran : Cases of cholera detected

Iran's Health Minister has announced confirmed cholera cases. Article via Straits Times, excerpt :

" A number of cholera cases have been detected in Iran, Health Minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi said on Wednesday, blaming 'foreigners' and contaminated vegetables for the outbreak.

'In recent days, due to the illegal entry of foreigners in Iran, cholera appeared in parts of the country,' Ms Vahid Dastjerdi was quoted as saying by the government information website dolat.ir.

'The ministry investigating the issue found that these cases are linked to contaminated vegetables and the illegal entry of foreigners,' she said, urging people to 'thoroughly wash vegetables, use only tap water and do not buy food from street vendors.' The minister did not elaborate on how many cases have been identified or in which regions of Iran they were detected."

Three more H1N1 flu deaths in Hong Kong

Via The Straits Times :

" HONG KONG : THREE more people in Hong Kong have died from swine flu, bringing the death toll to at least 17 in the past month, the territory's health authority said on Monday.
Health officials have stepped up surveillance on the virulent strain of influenza since late last month amid concerns about more deaths in the teeming metropolis of seven million.

The latest three victims, who died last week, were a 64-year-old woman and two men aged 71 and 83, and come a year-and-a-half after an outbreak of the disease killed 80 people in the city. 'We are currently at the peak of the flu season,' York Chow, the city's Secretary for Food and Health, told reporters on Sunday. "

Singapore : New superbug found here

An article via Straits Times, Singapore are now reporting they have dealt with NDM-1 :

" A NEWLY found superbug from India that has been making news around the world infected two patients here early this year - before anyone knew what they were dealing with - but was successfully dealt with and contained.

The patients had infections from bacteria with the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) gene which has the ability to shield bacteria from all antibiotics, turning them into drug-resistant superbugs."

Singapore : Rise in flu cases

Via Straits Times :

" THE number of influenza-like illness has spiked, rising 5 per cent in the week ended May 8, said the Ministry of Health on Monday.

This is up from 3 per cent the previous. Since early November last year, it had been mostly in the range of 2 to 3 per cent.

MOH said attendances in polyclinics for Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) between May 2 and 8 rose to 17,600 - or a daily average of 3,219 over 5.5 working days - compared to 16,167 in the previous week.

The estimated cumulative number of Influenza A (H1N1-2009) as of May 8 was 519,000, added the ministry.

Also, as of May 2, there were 129 severely ill cases including 25 deaths related to Influenza A (H1N1-2009)."