Singapore records another death from dengue fever this year

The locality the patient lived in was not known to be one of those "active dengue clusters".

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Singapore dengue crisis
A contractor fumigates a garden area to help prevent the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes at a residential estate in Singapore August 23, 2007. Reuters

An elderly Singaporean has died from dengue, raising the toll from the mosquito-borne disease to two in the country so far this year.

The 67-year-old victim lived at Toa Payoh Lorong 4, the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a joint statement.

The patient, who was being treated at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, died on Wednesday. The locality he lived in was not known to be one of those "active dengue clusters".

The number of dengue cases in Singapore is steadily increasing, with a warmer than usual weather aiding the breeding and maturation cycles of the Aedes mosquito population.

"Residents are urged to cooperate fully and allow NEA officers to inspect their premises for mosquito breeding and to spray insecticide to kill any infective mosquitoes," the agencies said in the statement.

In January, a 47-year-old man from Marsiling Road had died of the mosquito-borne disease.

The NEA had given a grim view of the dengue scenario at the start of the year. "In view of the warmer-than-usual weather persisting, the number of dengue cases in 2016 is expected to be high, with cases spiking earlier than in previous years. There is an urgent need to keep the mosquito population under control," the agency had said.

This article was first published on February 11, 2016
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