ONCE bitten, twice shy? That is not the case for hundreds of people who have been repeatedly fined for allowing dengue-carrying mosquitoes to breed on their properties, the authorities said.

Forty homeowners, 117 construction sites and 174 businesses paid multiple fines last year for allowing the Aedes aegypti mosquito to multiply, the National Environment Agency (NEA) recently told The Straits Times.

So far this year, dengue has infected 390 people, and there are at least six areas in the city where the disease has not been contained. Last year, dengue struck over 8,800 people and killed 20.

There were 7,940 fines imposed last year, compared with 4,500 in 2006. So far this year, 258 people have been fined more than once for allowing mosquitoes to breed. The bulk of last year's fines - almost 70 per cent - involved homes. About 20 per cent involved places like shophouses and factories, while 10 per cent involved construction sites.

First-time offenders face fines of up to $5,000 and three months in jail. The penalties can be doubled for a second conviction, though no one has been jailed for allowing mosquitoes to breed. People who ignore orders to clean up their properties face fines of up to $50,000.

The NEA told The Straits Times it will review penalties and consider 'adjusting' fines.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said on Sunday that new measures to control dengue outbreaks will be announced in Parliament in March.

A property developer, which NEA would not name, has the dubious honour of being fined the maximum of $50,000 last year for failing to comply with an order. The firm had a history of mosquito-related offences.

In another case, an 80-year-old woman in Lorong Pisang Emas was fined multiple times for, among other things, leaving pails outside to collect rain water, according to people who live in the area.

The property turned into a fertile breeding ground for the Aedes aegypti mosquito. But the woman refused to let her family clean up the area, a woman who identified herself as her daughter-in-law told The Straits Times.

The family is believed to be one of three repeat offenders in the area where, between November and January, dengue infected more than 30 people and killed one. The other two homes were fined twice.

For a month now, the elderly woman has been ill - but not with dengue, her daughter-in-law said. In the meantime, her family has put away the pails and cleaned up the house.

Among those who has been infected is actress Tan Kheng Hua, ironically the face of the NEA's anti-dengue campaign from 2005 until last year. The 45-year-old, who also had dengue in 2006, was warded at East Shore Hospital's intensive care unit and was discharged on Monday.

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