久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

Dengue plunges Singapore into health crisis
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-09-11 11:06

A dengue fever outbreak has plunged Singapore into its worst health crisis since the 2003 SARS epidemic, forcing officials to escalate a campaign against the spread of the mosquito-borne disease, AFP reported.

Public hospitals in the modern city-state better known for its cleanliness are delaying non-urgent operations to cope with an outbreak that has killed eight and infected over 9,000 of Singapore's 4.2 million people this year.

These could soon surpass the record 9,459 cases and eight deaths from dengue last year, causing public alarm despite the fact that the debilitating viral disease is an endemic, year-round problem.

By one estimate, over 100 new cases per day are now being reported, and since there is no effective vaccine against the virus, mosquito eradication is the only means of containing it.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan has gone to the extent of urging Singaporeans to postpone breast enlargement and other forms of non-critical surgery to ease the load on public hospitals in Singapore, where foreigners regularly go for sophisticated operations.

A subway train in Singapore carries a sign warning people about the dangers of dengue fever.
A subway train in Singapore carries a sign warning people about the dangers of dengue fever.[AFP]
The last time non-urgent forms of surgery were delayed here was during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) regional health crisis in 2003 which killed 33 Singaporeans and slowed down the travel-dependent economy.

Khaw has called for a "SARS approach" to the dengue problem -- a no-compromise campaign to cut the disease transmission chain.

A government hotline will be set up to take calls about possible "hotspots" of mosquito breeding after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called the situation "worrying" and urged the entire population to help.

Citizens, expatriates and health experts are wondering how one of Asia's richest and most sanitation-conscious countries could suffer an outbreak normally associated with wretchedly poor nations.

"It is hard to understand because in the past, Singapore has had a very sophisticated dengue surveillance and prevention system," said Dr Kevin Palmer, a dengue expert with the World Health Organization (WHO) regional office in Manila.

"The rising number of cases and deaths indicates that something may have happened to that system whereby some breeding places have gone unnoticed and therefore uncontrolled," Palmer told AFP.

Unlike in the past when construction sites were the main mosquito breeding grounds, private residences have now been identified as the culprits, but threats of fines against negligent homeowners have failed to stem the outbreak.

An expatriate mother was shocked when two of her three children came down with dengue soon after the family moved here in July from Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in the world.

"It's bizarre, isn't it? We were very surprised," said Delia Paul, who herself suffered dengue twice in Cambodia, where her children did not catch the disease after their home was protected with screens and anti-insect fogging.

Her 10-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son were initially diagnosed with the flu by a Singapore physician until she brought them to a children's hospital, where doctors recommended that they be admitted after a blood test.

"If they had been with these symptoms in Phnom Penh they would have been tested for dengue," she told AFP. "In Singapore we just didn't do that. Everything looks so clean here, we thought it can't be happening to us."

Dengue victim Lucy Davis, a university lecturer and arts magazine editor, said people living in Singapore "have a pretty blase attitude to mosquito bites -- so do I."

But she was all praises for Singapore's government hospitals, which she described as "fantastic" and staffed by efficient personnel, many of them from Singapore's less developed neighbors like India and the Philippines.

The WHO's Palmer, asked why dengue could regularly strike a modern Asian city like Singapore, said "it is persistent because the mosquito vector is well-adapted to urban situations".

"It is able to breed in very small collections of fresh water of the type that are found in and around human habitation such as old tires, saucers under potted plants, roof gutters ..." he said.

"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 added.



Post-Katrina New Orleans
12th APEC Finance Ministers Meeting
Evacuation continues in New Orleans
 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

305,000 evacuated as typhoon nears East China

 

   
 

China, Canada to build strategic partnership

 

   
 

China's diplomacy enters golden age

 

   
 

China banks target public listings in 2006

 

   
 

Bats may have been source of SARS - study

 

   
 

Fireworks ban goes up in smoke in Beijing

 

   
  Katrina costs could approach those of wars
   
  ROK ambassador calls for serious attitude in nuke talks
   
  Japan's PM heading for win in Sunday poll
   
  Kuwait, Iraq in contact over Saddam war crimes
   
  Iraq, US move against rebel stronghold
   
  Baghdad airport shuttered over pay dispute
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Dengue fever not likely to break out in Shenzhen
   
Tropical disease hits Guangdong, no deaths
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 521av香蕉 | 国产伦子伦视频免费 | 免费一级毛片女人图片 | 久久频这里精品99香蕉久 | 亚洲精品无码不卡 | 91在线免费公开视频 | 国内精品久久影视 | 久久欧美 | 亚洲欧美网址 | 日本一区二区三区精品视频 | 波多野结衣中文在线 | 精品亚洲成a人在线播放 | 超矿碰人人超人人看 | 国产成人香蕉久久久久 | 成人a网站| 亚欧在线一线 | 国产成人精品午夜免费 | 国产精品情人露脸在线观看 | 欧美同性videos在线可播放 | 亚洲精品久久久久中文字幕一区 | 欧美理论片在线观看一区二区 | 国产免费自拍视频 | 中文亚洲欧美 | 亚洲加勒比 | 日韩精品一区二区三区视频网 | 亚洲欧美日韩久久精品第一区 | 国产精品一区亚洲一区天堂 | 国产首页精品 | 国产精品91av | 99国产精品久久久久久久日本 | 亚洲日本欧美综合在线一 | 久久久免费精品 | 91精品国产一区二区三区左线 | 老头老太做爰xxx视频 | 日韩精品小视频 | 欧美不卡一区 | 国产免费爱在线观看视频 | 手机看片久久国产免费不卡 | 国产精品尹人在线观看免费 | 国产天堂亚洲精品 | 一级一片一a一片 |