‘Warm and wet weather causing dengue spike’

PETALING JAYA: Very warm or wet weather leads to a spike in the number of mosquitoes, including Aedes which causes dengue fever.

Universiti Malaya climate expert Prof Datuk Azizan Abu Samah said a surge in dengue cases can be triggered by these two weather conditions.

The first is an increase in temperature and the second is an increase in rainfall.

“Of the two, it is the correlation with a temperature rise that is higher, ” he said.

Prof Azizan said the big rise in dengue cases at the present time is likely due to the current hot spell.

This is because hot weather makes mosquitoes more active and causes them to pass through their life cycle, from egg to larva and to maturity, at a faster pace.

Prof Azizan said the higher temperatures could also explain why dengue cases are also increasing in other countries.

The Philippines on Thursday declared a national epidemic of dengue fever for the first time since 2000, with more than 600 people succumbing to dengue so far this year.

Singapore is also facing a peak dengue season with 9, 135 cases as of Aug 2, about five times more than the total number of cases last year, The Straits Times reported on Monday.

In Vietnam, the number of dengue cases this year has hit nearly 90, 000, more than three times the figure recorded last year, Xinhua reported.