Surge In worldwide dengue numbers may not impact S'pore, say experts

Even as dengue numbers soar worldwide, experts say it remains to be seen how the record figures elsewhere will impact the number of infections in Singapore.

- Zhaki Abdullah

To date, there have been more than five million dengue cases and more than 2,000 dengue-related deaths globally since the beginning of 2024, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Parts of Central and South America are reporting record numbers of the disease, with Brazil seeing more than one million dengue cases in the first two months of 2024.

In comparison, there were about six million dengue cases worldwide for the whole of 2023, with more than 6,000 dengue-related deaths reported that year.

Still, the high numbers seen in other countries may not impact Singapore, say experts.

Dengue expert Tikki Pang, a visiting professor at NUS' Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, said that while numbers could potentially spike, this is unlikely due to the relatively low passenger traffic between Latin America and Singapore.

International Society for Infectious Diseases president Paul Tambyah said: "Usually we are concerned about travellers bringing in new serotypes or variants, but it seems like there is already a lot of diversity in the dengue strains circulating, so I think that the impact of incoming or returning travellers is likely to be low." There are several possible reasons for the worldwide spike in dengue cases.