In Singapore, compound houses are more likely to be found breeding Aedes mosquitoes than high-rise public housing. There were 1355 cases of dengue reported to the authorities in Singapore in 1999 and 673 in 2000. All were laboratory-confirmed cases. Clinical manifestations Infection with the dengue virus may be asymptomatic but may lead to one of several syndromes loosely called dengue. These include dengue fever, dengue haemorrhagic shock and dengue shock syndrome.
Dengue fever is an acute illness with fever, headache and muscle aches.
It is difficult to distinguish this from other viral infections without diagnostic testing. Pain behind the eyes is classically described in the textbook but is not very common in the author s experience. There is a flush, and often a rash. Not all patients with dengue fever have a rash. Sometimes the rash takes the form of petechiae these are small areas of bleeding into the skin.