She was two years and three months old. There was no inkling then of what was to become the deadliest outbreak ofthe disease since the first occurrence in 1972. The boy had contracted the disease at the Cutie Kidz Playhouse at Sengkang. ENV shut it down as a precaution. There is no vaccine or medicine for the disease, which is spread by contact with body fluids, including saliva.
Doctors can treat only the symptoms.
As the number of cases shot up rapidly, hotlines were set up at the ENV's Quarantine and Epidemiology Department to give information to a worried public. All hospitals and polyclinics were alerted to be vigilant. By Sept 19, some 165 children were affected. In neighbouring Johor, parents were warned not to take children to public places until the outbreak in Singapore had subsided. But that was not to be.