Singapore records first dengue death of 2015

A Chinese national in Singapore has become the first dengue fever-related fatality of the year in the city-state.

Image/CIA

The 53-year-old woman died Monday at the National University Hospital (NUH), according to local media accounts.

She lived on West Coast Road, which is the site of an active seven-case dengue cluster, the report notes.

To date, the National Environmental Agency of Singapore has recorded 1490 dengue cases since the beginning of the year.

Five dengue fever deaths were reported in Singapore in 2014.

Singapore saw a record dengue year in 2013 when they reported 22,318 cases, easily surpassing their previous worst epidemic recorded in 2005 of 14,000 cases.

Seven deaths were reported in 2013.

Dengue fever is an infectious disease carried by mosquitoes and caused by any of four related dengue viruses. This disease used to be called "break-bone fever" because it sometimes causes severe joint and muscle pain that feels like bones are breaking.

Although the World Health Organization (WHO) says on their recent fact sheet that they currently estimate there may be 50-100 million dengue infections worldwide every year, researchers from the University of Oxford and the Wellcome Trust, using cartographic approaches, estimate there to be 390 million dengue infections per year worldwide.

There are three types of dengue fever in order of less severe to most: the typical uncomplicated dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHS) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS).

There is not a vaccine for dengue fever. There is no treatment for dengue, just treat the symptoms.