Singapore holds key
THE Far North must follow the lead of Singapore to drastically cut the chance of another large dengue fever outbreak, medical entomologist Scott Ritchie says.
Dengue fever is endemic in the South-East Asian city-state, but authorities there have reduced major outbreaks and associated deaths by implementing "dengue police", heavy fines and a high-profile public education campaign.
Dr Ritchie said similar measures must be implemented in the Far North in order to stop a similar sized outbreak in the future.
"They (Singapore) haven't wiped it out. They still get thousands of cases a year because of the large amount of imports," he said.
"They are in a sea of dengue but they have worked to reduce the number of mosquito breeding sites.
"The police go house to house, fining people.
"It is not rocket science. It really requires a lot of people on the ground going house to house."
Dr Ritchie stressed implementing a similar program in Australia would require a lot of public help and a large amount of funding. "Some of this will require the public doing things and becoming better educated," he said.
"It will involve good old fashioned labour.
"It requires more people on the ground.
"Someone will have to pay for that and at the moment I don't know who that will be."
Dr Ritchie said a house index, measuring the percentage of houses breeding dengue fever mosquitoes was often used to determine the level of risk an area was at of a major outbreak.
He said Cairns' house index was currently about 25 per cent, compared with .5 per cent in Singapore.
"That's really good and I think that's the thing we have to try to do - get our house index real low," he said.
Queensland Institute of Medical Research mosquito expert Tim Hirst said reducing the number of dengue mosquitoes breeding would reduce the chances of a future outbreak.
"They carry dengue fever so if you reduce the numbers you reduce the chance of getting dengue fever," Dr Hirst said.
Dr Ritchie said he was hoping to get a dengue fever expert from Singapore to Cairns for an international summit to be held later in the year.
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Follow their lead: A health expert believes the Far North has to follow Singapore's lead if the region is to control dengue fever.
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