Global dengue pandemic alert as mosquito mutates

Published on 01/10/2005 13:09

THE world is seeing an explosion in dengue infections as the virus-carrying Aedes mosquito adapts to cities and grows immune to old methods of population control.

"It's a global pandemic," said Dr Duane Gubler of the Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Diseases in Hawaii. "It's quite clear that the disease has evolved. There just is more dengue in the world."

Dengue causes severe joint pain, high fever, nausea and a rash. It can lead to internal bleeding. There is no cure or vaccine.

All across Asia, governments are scrambling to contain the virus, with Singapore alone recording more than 11,000 cases this year.

"Guerrilla" mosquitoes were the world's new enemy, said Dr Paul Reiter of the Pasteur Institute in France. He and Dr Gubler were among seven experts invited by Singapore's Ministry of Health to investigate the city-state's current spike in infections.