SINGAPORE (Central News Agency, Singapore): Singapore authorities said it faced an “emergency” once morest a dengue fever outbreak earlier this year than in previous years. Experts have judged that the epidemic situation in Xingguo is closely related to climate change. Under the trend of warming, similar crises may occur all over the world in the next few years.
CNN reported that in previous years, the peak of dengue fever in Singapore usually started on June 1, but a spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Singapore said that this year “as of May 28, regarding 11,670 dengue cases have been reported. About 10% of them required hospitalization,” and the number of infections far exceeds the 5,258 cases reported for the whole of 2021.
Home Minister Desmond Tan said the number of infections “will definitely accelerate this summer, and we are now entering an emergency phase that we have to deal with”.
Experts say the recent extreme weather has led to a worsening of the epidemic in the country. Similar problems might arise elsewhere as more countries experience prolonged periods of hot weather and thunderstorms that help mosquitoes reproduce and spread the virus.
Dengue fever can cause flu-like symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, and body aches. In extreme cases, it can even lead to bleeding, breathing difficulties, organ failure and even death.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in its January 2022 global report on dengue that “the disease has spread to more than 100 countries around the world” and that “the number of cases has increased 30-fold over the past 50 years”.
According to WHO statistics, there were a record 5.2 million dengue cases worldwide in 2019, and the outbreak killed thousands in Asia alone.
The worst dengue outbreak in the history of Singapore occurred in 2020, when a total of 35,315 cases and 28 deaths were reported.
With this year’s peak dengue season just beginning, experts and physicians have warned that a record number of cases is likely.
Despite spending tens of millions of dollars a year to spray insecticides across the island, promote anti-mosquito campaigns, and even use lab-grown genetically modified mosquitoes to try to reduce the number of mosquitoes, the number of people infected with dengue and the number of mosquitoes has not increased. reduce.
As climate change intensifies and the planet warms, mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika virus, Chikungunya and dengue are likely to continue to spread and have a greater impact on human health and well-being.
Experts stress that the key at hand is whether officials and policymakers will see the impact of mosquito-borne diseases on human health and take action to slow the rate of warming while trying to address the consequences of climate change.
“Changing environmental conditions are pushing up mosquito breeding rates,” said Winston Chow, a climate scientist at Singapore Management University. “Unless the climate emergency improves, it will become more difficult to completely eliminate dengue. In the long run Look, Singapore will face a tough battle.” (Translator: Shi Shi / Verification: Liu Xueyuan) 1110607