One of the residents having X-ray screening (Photo Straits Times)

July 4 – The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that residents of the Tuberculosis (TB) cluster at Block 203 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, have progressively received their results from the on-site TB screening exercise from June 16 to 19,  since June 30.

MOH held the four-day precautionary screening after the discovery of the new cases at the foot of the blocks so as to ascertain if there are any undiagnosed cases. There are about 350 residents who live in the blocks, and 223 of them has taken the tests.

From MOH’s announcement, it is said,

  • Majority (164) tested negative for TB and do not require follow-up action.
  • 45 residents diagnosed with latent TB (they do not have symptoms and cannot spread TB)
  • 3 residents had previously contracted TB earlier in life and had completed treatment. Not related to TB cluster.
  • 2 possibly have active TB.
  • 9 residents have only completed either a chest x-ray or blood test.

MOH stated that the two new residents from the TB cluster were shown to be possibly infected by active tuberculosis (TB) through through their chest X-ray scans. It is said that the health officials are going to follow up the case so they will get necessary treatment. The two will be monitored closely for MOH to be able to perform contact-tracing.

MOH said that they will also take DNA fingerprinting analysis which would take some time to specify if their cases are related to the cluster of six MDRTB in the public housing board.

Though the tests had already ended on June 19, but health officials still visited the blocks on July 2 to encourage those who have no taken the tests and offered to collect blood samples to make it more convenient for residents.

Earlier on June 16, MOH held a press conference and revealed that there were 6 cases of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) emerged from Ang Mo Kio Block 203, and the first case were found back in 2012.

Even though the cases happened from years ago, it was only on May this year that the cases were being reported to MOH. The investigation found that the six people were Singaporeans ranging in age from early 20s and 70, and were infected with the same strain of MDRTB, which takes longer to treat, about 20-24 months instead of 6-9 months because less effective medicines are needed.

Of the six who are infected with MDRTB, three lived in a same apartment, and the first one were diagnosed with MDRTB in February 2012. The members of his household were being monitored. Then two other were diagnosed in May 2012 and October 2015. As for the other three, they do not live in a same apartment. One were diagnosed in April 2014, another in October 2015 and the last one were diagnosed just last month. No history of contact by the three were found through the interview, making this a very unusual case.

The director of medical services at MOH, Professor Benjamin Ong said, “It is highly unusual to find cases of the same strain of the MDRTB who do not share common activities with one another. Other than the three cases in the same household, there was no common link to other cases except for the residential block.”

As TB is spread through air. People need to inhale the bacteria from an infected individual in close range and over a prolonged period of time to become infected. So this disease is more likely to spread to the family members, friend, co-workers and schoolmates.

No new updates on the diagnosis of the two residents and the situation at Ang Mo Kio’s TB cluster as of July 10.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

莱佛士之家幼园发通告 二孩童母亲确诊感染武汉冠病

三一基督徒中心周三发文告指出,巴耶利峇莱佛士之家幼儿园(Raffles House Preschool)两名孩子的母亲,已经被确诊感染上武汉冠状病毒(Covid-19)。 在网上流传的通告指出,有关的三一基督徒中心成员已经获得新加坡卫生局确认,是一名确诊病患。 该中心指出,病患于2月12日最后一次出现在莱佛士之家幼儿园,当时她并未出现任何疫情症状。 三一基督徒中心主任牧師楊德文指出,两个孩子于2月17日到幼儿园上学时,状况良好,目前和家人一起被勒令进行14天的居家隔离中,并没有参与基督徒中心的活动。 据《新加坡雅虎》报导指出,周三早上在莱佛士之家幼儿园传出一个消息,指确诊母亲曾经在2月12日下午抵达幼儿园的接待处移交物件,并于下午4时左右离开学校。 通告写道,“2月17日,两名孩子在幼儿园和家中的状况都良好。我们和家人保持密切联系,并且关注两名孩子的健康状况”。 幼儿园等活动持续运作 据悉,有关的幼儿园仍然继续运作,并且每天为儿童和教职员进行三次体温检测。 幼儿园管理层也在信息中鼓励学生,若身体有不适就应该在家中休养,而他们会向父母跟新消息。“我们想所有父母保证,会继续采取措施,以保障所有学童和教职员的健康。我们期许获得你们的支持,祝愿受影响的家庭尽早康复,我们也会在这段时间提供所需的支持和指导。” 在通告传出当天,幼儿园和其公共范围都展开了彻底的清洁和消毒行动。…

Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Mrs Julie Bishop is in Singapore for a two-day visit

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has announced that Australia’s Minister for Foreign…

Police looking into another Telegram group "SharingIsCaring" for circulating obscene materials

Just after the police said they have arrested four individuals, including two…

研究指政府应考量国人对移民比率的接受度

李光耀公共政策学院新加坡政策研究所和种族和谐资源中心(OnePeople.sg),從去年8月至今年1月进行一项民调,探讨可能影响本地社会凝聚力的隐忧。 根据李光耀公共政策学院官网,发布有关研究报告的简介,指出近期发生的一些社会事件,都与五大关键议题有关:族群、宗教、移民、阶级和性少数权益(LGBT)。 “仅在今年,“美丽求求你”讽刺视频风波、立法禁止外国传教士发表煽动性言论、再到上周末出现摩根大通高管辱骂本地保安,引起社会反弹,”以及有要求废除刑事法典377A的呼声,都一再占据着本地媒体的版位。 故此,该研究旨在探讨本地居民如何受到上述五大隐忧影响,以及国家干预与公共论述的缓解机制。 研究认为国人都意识到管理社会隐忧的重要,尽管过去族群和宗教议题都由政府管理,惟相当大部分人口亦认为移民课题、LGBT和阶级需要政府的参与与公共讨论。 研究建议政府在制定移民政策时应考量国人对移民比率的接受度,特别是有六成受访者坦言,不喜欢和新移民做邻居,住家附近的新移民人口在1-20巴仙之间,对他们来说才是比较理想的。 近七成认为移民仍不够融入本土社会 此外,有将近67.5巴仙受访者,某种程度上赞同或非常赞同,新移民对于融入本土社会仍做得不够好;不过93巴仙受访者赞同孩子与不同背景的人一起玩耍。 而来自不同学历、不同年龄背景的受访者中,有近半认为在移民课题上认为政府应干预和管制移民涌入,这可能显示本地人的排外心理和对就业的不安全感在提升。 报告也提到近期发生的摩根大通高管辱骂保安事件,而坊间一些声音不外乎要求对这位外籍高官采取行动、调查他的学历背景、开除他/驱逐出境。 报告也分析居民在看待此事上把身份和阶级关联在一起,甚至将之关联到此前新加坡和印度政府签署的《综合性经济合作协议(CECA)》,使之成为当局必须处理的不利因素。此外,包括保安协会、工会和一些议员也站出来呼吁立法保障低薪劳工的权益。