Singapore Battles Dengue Fever Outbreak

Monday, September 26th 2005, 11:16 am

By: News On 6

SINGAPORE (AP) _ A lawmaker says patients with dengue fever should be quarantined to prevent mosquitoes from biting them and transmitting the disease, but the idea has few supporters as Singapore battles an outbreak of the virus.

About 11,000 people have been infected with dengue fever in Singapore this year, and 11 have died. Some hospitals suspended non-urgent surgeries to cope with the flood of dengue patients, and the government appointed a Cabinet-level panel to deal with the problem.

Dr. Tan Cheng Bock, a general practitioner who is one of Singapore's 85 parliamentarians, says the health crisis requires drastic measures.

``Our buildings are packed together and there's so much vegetation around us,'' he said. ``If we don't have isolation units, I fear the disease would spread further.''

Dengue fever is not contagious among humans, but the Aedes mosquito can become infected with the virus by biting a person who has it, and can then transmit it to healthy people. Tan's proposal is to keep mosquitoes away from dengue patients.

Patients in quarantine shelters will be required to sleep and rest under mosquito nets and to always use mosquito repellent, he said.

``If you ask Singaporeans to sleep under mosquito nets, how many do you think would actually do it? We need to enforce such practices to prevent the spread,'' Tan said.

However, people with the dengue virus often feel healthy for days before falling ill, so it would be virtually impossible to quarantine all virus carriers.

Tan raised his idea in Parliament last week, but Cabinet ministers dismissed it.

``This is not an infection that spreads from one person to another, so any amount of human contact is safe,'' said Dr. Balaji Sadasivan, senior minister of state for health.

Dengue expert Subhash Vasudevan of the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases in Singapore said isolating dengue patients would be ``an extreme measure.''

Sinapan Samydorai, head of Think Center, a human rights watchdog, said quarantining dengue patients would stigmatize them.

``It would make life difficult for the families of dengue patients, by separating them from their loved ones,'' Samydorai said. ``We should focus our efforts on reducing the mosquito population instead.''

Authorities have been on high alert for the Aedes mosquito, combing public housing estates for breeding spots and spraying insect repellent in common areas.

In 2003, Tan voluntarily quarantined himself at home for 10 days after treating a patient suffering from the highly contagious severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. The SARS outbreak killed 33 people. At the time, new laws promised harsh punishments for those who broke home quarantine orders.

Dengue causes severe joint pain, high fever, nausea, rashes and internal bleeding. There is no known vaccine.