An outbreak of the mosquito-borne chikungunya fever infected 17 workers in an area of Singapore and a Chinese national in another area, as health officers are trying to contain the virus in the city-state.
There is no vaccine or specific treatment for the dengue-like disease, which causes fever, rash and debilitating joint pain that can persist for months.
Following the latest cluster of three chikungunya cases reported on Aug. 2, the Health Ministry has been carrying out active case detection at and around the site in Kranji Way, a northern industrial area.
So far, 282 workers have been screened and 17 have tested positive for chikungunya fever, the ministry said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.
These 17 cases have been admitted for isolation and treatment in a communicable diseases center.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the Kranji Way cluster is due to local transmission.
Health officers have conducted intensive mosquito control operations within the vicinity of the victims' workplace and residences.
More than 23 premises have been inspected in the Kranji Way area and a total of 15 premises were found breeding the Aedes mosquito, said the ministry.
Outdoor and indoor fogging of insecticide is also being carried out for all the premises checked.
"This intensive operation to seek out and remove any mosquito breeding habitats will continue," the ministry said.
Previously, the largest chikungunya outbreak here was also Singapore's first outbreak, when 13 people living or working in Little India came down with the disease in January this year.
Separately, a Chinese technician who lives in Miltonia Close off Yishun Avenue 1 and works at Marsiling Industrial Estate, was also found to have contracted chikungunya. He fell sick on July 18,and was hospitalized for five days.
Besides the 20 cases in Kranji Way, a total of 54 confirmed cases of chikungunya fever have been reported to Singapore's health ministry this year, including 35 who contracted the disease overseas.
(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2008)