(Bloomberg) -- Dengue cases in Singapore this year have already exceeded 2023’s total, as the virus roars back despite improved prevention and control measures.
The Asian city-state recorded 10,111 cases in the first 29 weeks of 2024, and 13 deaths in the first half, according to data from the National Environment Agency.
There were 9,949 cases and six deaths in total last year — dropping steeply from more than 32,000 in 2022 — after efforts including stepped-up removal of stagnant water led to a 90% drop in the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmit the virus.
The agency attributed this year’s rise in part to low immunity to all four dengue serotypes within Singapore’s population. A lack of sufficient action could cause a surge in cases in the coming months, it warned. A serotype is a distinct variation of a species of virus or bacteria.
The trend in Singapore follows a sustained increase in dengue cases globally. The World Health Organization said last week that 10.6 million suspected cases in the Americas this year marked a 232% increase compared to the same period in 2023. About half the world’s population lives in areas with a risk of dengue, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Only about one in four people fall ill after contracting the disease. But about one in 20 infected people can face life-threatening symptoms within hours, and subsequent reinfections with a different serotype can be worse than the initial infection.
(Updates with death toll for the first half of 2024 in second paragraph)
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
