Singapore confirms 41 cases of locally transmitted Zika

Infection number likely to rise, warn health authorities

SINGAPORE // Authorities have confirmed 41 cases of locally transmitted Zika virus, which in Brazil has been linked to a rare birth defect, and said more cases were expected to be identified.

Those infected include 36 foreign construction workers employed at a site near Aljunied in the south-east of the island.

On Saturday, authorities confirmed Singapore’s first case of a local transmission of the virus, to a 47-year-old Malaysian woman, also from the Aljunied area.

The health ministry “cannot rule out further community transmission in Singapore since some of those tested positive also live or work in other parts of Singapore,” said the health ministry and national environment agency. “We expect to identify more positive cases.”

The authorities said they had tested 124 people, primarily construction workers. Seventy-eight tested negative and five cases were pending. Thirty-four patients have fully recovered. It was not clear where the foreign workers were from but Singapore hosts a large contingent of workers from South Asia.

“All the cases are residents or workers in the Aljunied Crescent/Sims Drive area. They are not known to have travelled to Zika- affected areas recently, and are thus likely to have been infected in Singapore. This confirms that local transmission of Zika virus infection has taken place,” the statement said.

Dozens of environment agency staff cleaned drains and sprayed insecticide in the mainly residential area early yesterday, and volunteers and contractors handed out leaflets and insect repellent.

“I’m very scared of mosquitoes because they always seem to bite me, they never bite my husband,” said Janice, 31, a resident in the area, said. “This concerns me because maybe in a couple of years I want to have another child.”

Zika was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. The virus poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects. It has been linked to more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly – an abnormal smallness of the head typical of a congenital condition associated with incomplete brain development – in Brazil. The Singapore government said there were “continuing local transmission” cases in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Other countries in the region to have detected the Zika virus since 2013 included Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives and the Philippines, according to the World Health Organisation.

Malaysia yesterday said it had stepped up surveillance at main transit points with Singapore.

Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said leaflets on Zika prevention were being handed out and paramedics were at entry points to handle visitors who may show symptoms.

As of this month, Malaysia said it had screened more than 2 million visitors at air, sea and land entrances and found no Zika infection.

In Thailand, where close to 100 cases of Zika have been recorded across 10 provinces this year, the department of disease control was screening all athletes returning from the Olympic Games in Brazil but was not changing its prevention measures.

The health ministry expects to identify further cases