Asean must join Singapore in fighting spread of Zika virus

ONE joke making the rounds recently on social media listed the prime targets of the governments of various countries: the US is out to nab terrorists, Europe wants to catch illegal immigrants, China is going after corrupt officials, Indonesia is after forest fire culprits, the Philippines is gunning down drug dealers - and Singapore is after mosquitoes.

Indeed, Singapore has taken its "Mozzie Wipeout" campaign - started in 2013 at the height of a dengue outbreak - up a few notches since it became known in late August that there has been local transmission of the Zika virus. Immediate back-tracing of earlier suspected infections found that the first instance of Zika symptoms actually surfaced on July 31, although the case was confirmed only on Aug 27. As the number of Zika diagnoses surged in the days since and new potential clusters of infection were identified around the island, government officials and grassroot leaders, led by MPs, have been out in force in affected housing estates to drive home to residents the need to stamp out mosquito breeding and to protect themselves (particularly pregnant women) against getting bitten by the potentially deadly critters. But as Singapore goes all out to contain the spread of Zika, residents islandwide, beyond the infection clusters, must all get on board and do their part in the Mozzie Wipeout. At the same time, scientists here are studying the Zika virus found in Singapore patients to uncover all they can about the strain that has found its way to our shores.

It is expected that Zika will become endemic in Singapore as well as across South-east Asia, despite the low reported numbers in the neighbouring countries - much like dengue, which too is spread by the female Aedes mosquito. In fact, the dengue outbreak is likely to hit a new high this year, with the number infected to date - 11,343 - already surpassing the 2015 total. Hopefully, the stepped-up effort on Zika will also help the fight against dengue.