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|Videos|February 27, 2017

How Was Singapore's Zika Virus Outbreak Quickly Contained?

Annelies Wilder-Smith, MD, PhD, professor at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore, discusses why the Zika virus outbreak in Singapore did not reach such large proportions as those that occurred in the Americas.

Annelies Wilder-Smith, MD, PhD, professor at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore, discusses why the Zika virus outbreak in Singapore did not reach such large proportions as those that occurred in the Americas.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“Singapore is a small island-state with about 5 million people, and in August 2016 it had a small outbreak of Zika. The question is really ‘why was it contained so quickly?’ I think there are two reasons. The first is, Singapore has a very good active surveillance, so they detected Zika very early on. Secondly, they have a very rigorous vector control program, so they were also able to react very rapidly and contain the outbreak.

Singapore, though, has all the conditions for Zika to return. It has the climate, the ecological conditions, [it] has Dengue. So, [Zika is] very likely to come back again.”

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