Malaysia’s government has issued a public alert against dengue fever after the number of infections and deaths sparked by the mosquito-borne disease doubled in the first two weeks of this year.
The Health Ministry says dengue fever sickened 3,211 people during the period of Jan. 4-17 compared to 1,514 people in the first two weeks of last year. It says 8 people have died of dengue this year, double the figure for the same period of 2008. The dengue virus causes severe joint pain, high fever, nausea and a rash. For more updates, visit http://www.moh.gov.my/
02 Feb 2009 SHAH ALAM: Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai has taken the Selangor Health Department to task for failing to take effective measures which led to the outbreak of 68 dengue fever cases at eight apartment blocks here over the last 100 days.
Among the 68 victims living off Jalan Plumbum in Section 7, 70% were students age 17 to 35 from the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
Liow told department director Dr Rosnah Hadis and Petaling medical officer Dr Ismail Samad that effective and proactive measures should have been taken to contain the disease within the two weeks.
“With immediate effect, all measures must be taken if there are more than two cases and within two weeks, the health department and local councils must overcome the problem,” he said. Liow added that there were 48 hot spots in Selangor which are concentrated in the urban areas.
“Even friends of mine are coming down with dengue fever. Our Selangor MCA state liaison committee deputy chairman Datuk Liew Yuen Keong was struck with the disease two weeks ago,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Rosnah blamed the dengue outbreak at the Section 7 apartments to the higher rainfall and public apathy that encouraged the breeding of the Aedes mosquitoes.
She added that officers from the department were not able to contain the situation as most of the breeding grounds were actually inside the apartments, especially bath tubs filled with water for weeks while the tenants returned to their home towns for holidays.
Selangor Health Committee chairman Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar called on the residents to cooperate with health officers during fogging operations.
“Residents must allow our men to fog their homes. We are using water-based chemicals for fogging, so it will not leave an oily residue.”
Liow told department director Dr Rosnah Hadis and Petaling medical officer Dr Ismail Samad that effective and proactive measures should have been taken to contain the disease within the two weeks.
“With immediate effect, all measures must be taken if there are more than two cases and within two weeks, the health department and local councils must overcome the problem,” he said. Liow added that there were 48 hot spots in Selangor which are concentrated in the urban areas.
“Even friends of mine are coming down with dengue fever. Our Selangor MCA state liaison committee deputy chairman Datuk Liew Yuen Keong was struck with the disease two weeks ago,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Rosnah blamed the dengue outbreak at the Section 7 apartments to the higher rainfall and public apathy that encouraged the breeding of the Aedes mosquitoes.
She added that officers from the department were not able to contain the situation as most of the breeding grounds were actually inside the apartments, especially bath tubs filled with water for weeks while the tenants returned to their home towns for holidays.
Selangor Health Committee chairman Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar called on the residents to cooperate with health officers during fogging operations.
“Residents must allow our men to fog their homes. We are using water-based chemicals for fogging, so it will not leave an oily residue.”
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