Singapore is known to be safe from almost all catastrophic natural disasters like typhoons, earthquakes, tornadoes and floods which wreak havoc and cause massive loss of lives in a matter of seconds. However, Singapore’s threats, as evidenced over the last ten years, are not from the ‘seen’ but those ‘unseen’. The SARS Epidemic, Bird Flu, the recent Haze and Dengue serve as real reminders of Singapore’s vulnerability as a small city-state and one that is highly dependent on her human resource.
|Epidemic at our doorstep…|
This year’s Dengue outbreak has reached an epidemic level of nearly 12,000 infections and 4 deaths to date – an alarming statistics given our small population…and what’s alarming is that the numbers are still rising. The Aedes Mosquito (Aedes albopictus), is the primary culprit for Dengue. Aedes Mosquitoes are one of the ‘deadliest creatures on earth’ as they have killed more humans then any other. They thrive in our hot and humid tropical climate, have feeding patterns that are completely opposite from its common cousin – the ‘Culex Mosquitoes’ and can spread a range of deadly diseases including Encephalitis and Chikungunya.
|Life Cycle of the Aedes Mosquitoes|
The Singapore government is leaving no stone’s unturned (pardon the pun) in its fight to stem the rise of Dengue. It has gone full swing into involving schools, community centres, media and road shows… The aim is not only to educate the public, but more importantly to empower and rally all of us, common folks, to stem the growth of these deadly mosquitoes.
|Credit: The Straits Times|
Like most people, these facts and figures reported in the newspapers and news broadcasts may be alarming but it did not hit home until my colleague was inflicted (and hospitalized) twice, by Dengue. Serious cases even require blood transfusion. It was then that I decided to attend one of these volunteer training workshops organized by the National Environment Agency (NEA). As part of the Dengue alert mechanism, NEA has, among other precautionary measures, set up a colour-coded system to inform the public if their housing estate (or the surrounding vicinity) is having a Dengue outbreak. These volunteer training road shows are generally held in estates with the Red and Yellow alert.
I attended a ‘Fight Dengue’ volunteers training workshop held at block 637 Yishun St 61 few weeks ago together with community leaders, cleaners, media representatives, members of CERT (Community Engagement Response Team) and personnel from NEA. Educational exhibits on display such as ‘live’ samples of the Aedes Mosquitoes in various stages of their life cycle (impressive!) gave us insights into these deadly killers. No prizes for guessing which exhibit drew the most attention!
|An Aedes larva takes only 5-10 days to mature into an adult mosquito!|
The main draw of the ‘Fight Dengue’ volunteer training workshop is where the NEA representatives highlighted little known facts about the Aedes Mosquitoes and Dengue to the residents present. Just when I thought I knew all there was to know about Dengue and Mozzies, I was surprised to learn of these startling facts:
1. Unlike the common Culex Mosquitoes, the Aedes Mosquitoes are ‘day-biters’. They feed between 5am to 6pm while the Culex Mosquitoes feed mainly at night. This is a cause for concern as most people associate mosquito bites after sun down hence most of us are caught off-guard by ‘attacks’ from the Aedes Mosquitoes. The ‘live’ samples present were testament to that: the Aedes Mosquitos were buzzing away (at 4:30pm) while the Culex Mosquitoes were very obviously sedated or …asleep!
|A killer breed – the Day Biters!|
2. The Aedes Mosquitoes have killed more humans then any known creatures alive. So, we are literally having ‘killers’ on the loose in our community (or in our home)!
3. The eggs of the Aedes Mosquitoes can survive for up to nine months if the environment is right (cool, dark and humid)- even if without water! The intact egg can still grow when water is eventually introduced! Merely pouring away stagnant water is not enough to deter Aedes Mosquitoes from breeding; one must scrub and brush them away. It doesn’t help also that these eggs are as small as specks of black soot and very hard to spot.
4. Contrary to popular belief, most of the breeding grounds for Aedes Mosquitoes are found indoors – in choked gutters, empty and abandoned pails and pots, rims of overturned pails and pots, even toys!
5. Outdoors, mosquito breeding can take place in a small pool of water, the size of a 20-cent coin e.g. bottle caps. The cleaners I met told me that one common culprit are people who feed strays. Once the strays finish the food, containers are left there to collect rainwater, becoming excellent breeding grounds for mosquitoes (whether Culex or Aedes).
6. The Aedes Mosquitoes are not born with the Dengue virus but gets it from other humans who have contracted this disease and then spreads it around. So, wearing repellent, especially for those who have contracted Dengue before really goes a long way to prevent the spread of the disease.
7. The life cycle of the Aedes Mosquitoes accelerates with heat: shortening it from a typical 10 days to just 5 days! Higher temperatures (typical of May and June) also mean a more conducive environment for dengue transmission. Therefore, the recent haze actually accelerates the growth of the Aedes Mosquitoes through trapping the atmospheric heat across Singapore!
One of the most heartening aspects of the training workshop is knowing that there are many selfless community volunteers out there, taking turns to visit households and educating and assisting residents on ways to prevent the breeding of Aedes Mosquitoes. These volunteers feel a deep sense of civic responsibility to help their fellow residents win the fight against Dengue. Some of them have been doing this for 20 years! Their dedication and civic consciousness are really admirable.
|Our Community Volunteers!|
|Ministers do their part too!|
My main takeaway is that although Dengue is deadly disease, it can be stopped if we all do our part as a family, community and country.
Here are some other ways you can help fight Dengue:
– Join the Stop.Dengue.Now Facebook Page for community updates.
– Get updates, resources and more information about Dengue clusters from the NEA’s website.
– Inorm NEA of possible breeding grounds through the contacts on its website.
– Encourage your family members and neighbours to do the 5-step Mozzie Wipeout.