Singapore is not the kind of place one would fear going: it is super modern, well structured and tourist friendly.
But this year Singapore might not be the best spot to wander to. The city-state is in a frantic attempt at stemming what could be the worse dengue epidemic it has known.
The dengue cases so far this year have outpaced the total number of yearly cases for the past years in just 5 months.
Although Singapore is one of the cleanest places on earth, the Aedes mosquito that carries the dreaded disease, which is sometimes fatal, cannot be stamped out so easily.
In fact 7,700 people have already been infected this year, compared to 4,632 for the entire 2012 year.
Singapore has always been a dengue hotbed, but cautious measures and spraying had bettered its track record. Now however, there seems to be a spiraling of the disease that is due to metereological conditions. Warmer weather is helping the mosquito thrive.
30,000 volunteers have been recruited to eliminate breeding spots and spray the affected areas.
The WHO has already warned that Dengue is now on track to gain 'global epidemic potential', after increasing 30 fold in the past few months and years. Two million cases have been registered annually due to the dual contributing factors of warming of the planet and increased mobility.
Source : France 24/ 5.30.13
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