Have you seen the above 'criminal' recently? Or do you know of anyone who has been attacked by it? This notorious Aedes mosquito has been in the news recently for what it's spreading - dengue fever. Up till 12 Sep, 9540 cases of dengue fever have been reported - a 10-year high. So far the disease has already claimed 8 lives and more could follow if nothing is done to either stop or reduce the spread of the disease. The government has launched a series of measures to tackle the problem, including public awareness campaigns, regular fogging with insecticides and fines for residents who are found to have mosquitoes breeding in their homes. But despite all these measures, dengue infection cases have continued to swell, baffling the government and health experts. A ministerial committee has been formed to tackle the problem before it gets out of hand.

Why has this outbreak been compared to the deadly SARS virus? Why is this tiny insect so deadly?

Dengue fever is an infectious disease carried by mosquitoes and caused by any of four related dengue viruses: DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4. A person can be infected by at least two, if not all four types at different times during a life span, but only once by the same type. That means a person is only immuned to the virus which he has been infected and will still be infected by the other types of viruses. People get dengue virus infections from the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. Mosquitoes become infected when they bite infected humans and later transmit the infection to other people they bite. However, dengue is not contagious from person to person.

Symptoms of dengue usually start with fever within 5 to 6 days after been bitten by an infected mosquito and include:

* High fever
* Severe headache
* Retro-orbital (behind the eye) pain
* Severe joint and muscle pain
* Nausea and vomiting
* Rash

Though there is still no vaccine against dengue, it is a treatable disease and most people will recover completely within 2 weeks. However, there are instances when the disease develops into a more deadly form - dengue hemorrhagic fever, which can be fatal to children and the elderly.

The best prevention against this disease, of course, is not to get bitten by an infected mosquito. To avoid that, we have to stop the mosquito from breeding and the most effective way to do that is to deprive the mosquito of the water it needs to lay its eggs. It needs only a very small amount of water, as such it can be breeding almost anywhere, in any vessel as long as there is stagnant water. Thus, there are more of them around during rainy season.

The fight against dengue is everybody's responsibility and not the government's alone. Each one of us has a part to play to help to contain the outbreak. Stay alert and be on the lookout for this deadly insect and call the authority when you spot it. Don't try to catch it with your bare hands or you might get stung by it. A smarter way will be to use a can of insecticide. (I not trying to insult the intelligence of anybody but it's just a gentle reminder.)

Anyway, the main thing is not to take this battle lightly as we wouldn't want to lose this war against these minute creatures which we have always taken for granted. Be safe not sorry so let's put our hands together and crush these flying blood suckers.