Singapore - The mosquito-borne chikungunya disease has hit
17 workers in the largest outbreak of the viral infection in the
city-state, the Singapore Health Ministry data said Friday.
The patients, all living in the Kranji Way area, include seven
Indian nationals, three Bangladeshis, two Thais, two Malaysians and
two Singaporeans.
Fifteen of them worked in a single company making building
materials, The Straits Times said. The other two were employed in a
nearby storage yard.
They bring the total number of Kranji Way victims to 20, the
ministry said. Patients have been taken to the Communicable Disease
Centre.
The afflicted were found with the dengue-like disease when health
officers screened 282 workers after three became ill last month, the
report said.
Previously, the largest chikungunya outbreak hit 13 people in
January in the city-state's Little India area, which was Singapore's
first outbreak of the disease.
Symptoms include fever and joint pain. There is no vaccine to
prevent the disease.
During inspections of more than 23 premises in Kranji Way, the
National Environment Agency's officers found 15 where chikungunya
mosquitos were breeding in standing water.
So far this year, 39 people have contracted chikungunya in
Singapore, the report said. Another 35 were infected while in other
countries.
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