About 40 people from the region are now in Singapore to learn about dengue surveillance and control, making the first-ever Asia Pacific Dengue Workshop an important step in tackling the disease
Experts say lessons learnt won't only be useful for addressing a threat that's re-emerging, it's necessary to counter up-and-coming diseases like chikungunya and possibly yellow fever.
Geraldine Soh reports.
Until 2006, Nepal had not reported a single case of dengue.
Now, cases are seen even in Bhutan and Timor Leste.
In countries like Thailand and Indonesia, the number of dengue cases have risen by up to threefold in the last five years.
In Singapore, latest figures show that about 1,200 cases were reported in the last two months - about 25 percent more than the same period last year.
Professor Duane Gubler, Programme Director for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School says possible reasons include globalisation, rapid urbanisation and increased cross-border travel.
Climate change, though it influences transmission, is not a major factor.
Last year, countries in the Asia-Pacific finalised an eight-year plan to tackle dengue.
The current inaugural eight-day dengue workshop jointly organised by Singapore and the World Health Organisation, is a step towards achieving the vision in that plan.
Says CEO of Singapore's National Environment Agency Andrew Tan:
"The long-term goal is to develop a regional surveillance network that'll allows us to to share information, not only from the labs but also what's taking place in the field. That'll also help reduce any duplication in efforts."
Dr Chusak Prasittisuk, WHO Coordinator for Communicable Diseases Control in South East Asia says stepping up prevention efforts won't only useful for dengue but chikungunya.
"It's coming very soon. Apart from Aedes Aegypti, we're suspecting that another species can really create the outbreaks of chikungunya."
About 9,000 cases of chikungunya were reported in the South of Thailand in the last two months.
In Singapore, about 40 cases were reported each week in December and January, but the NEA says it's down to about 2 a week now.
Then there's yellow fever says Dr Gubler:
"In the past in America, it caused major urban epidemics and our concern is that if we start to see urban yellow fever in the American tropics, now with globaliation and movement of people, they'll very quickly move to Asian cities. If that happens, it's going to create a global public health emergency that will make SARS pale by comparison."
While this is not something the public should be worried about yet, Dr Gubler says health officials ought to take note.
"It boils down to the same things you'd do to control dengue will also control yellow fever."
--938Live