DCM's plea on zoonotic diseases: Continue to keep Sabah free
Published on: Friday, October 09, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin on Thursday said health personnel must not let their guard down in keeping zoonotic diseases at bay despite Sabah's clean bill of health status. Zoonotic diseases are diseases that are passed between animals and humans through the transmission of viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi. He said zoonotic diseases like rabies now know no boundaries due to the expansion of trade and thus, the education of its spread, prevention and cure must be disseminated constantly to the public. ADVERTISEMENT Based on the World Survey of Rabies: Volume 31: 1995, Sabah has been recorded as free from rabies since 1881 according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). "I was made to understand the Veterinary Services and Animal Industry Department has carried out various programmes and awareness campaigns in stages on the threat of Food Mouth and Disease, rabies and others in hot spot areas and the State's borders."This is important as this era of globalisation has made the movement of animals and people between borders much easier," he said during the launching of the Zoonotic Seminar and World Rabies Day, here. More than 500 people composed of veterinary, health officers, medical students, secondary students and officers from various departments and agencies attended the seminar here. ADVERTISEMENT According to Yahya, the export and import of animals, especially in dairy products facilitate the exposure of various zoonotic diseases from one place to another, adding that it is also common for the spread of such diseases to increase when trade is on the uptrend. Towards this end, he said the government will not hesitate to restrict the import of dairy products or animal produce from nations or areas indicated as high risk.
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"The execution science based risk analysis must also be executed to prevent outbreaks. Therefore, a right monitoring system to measure disease prevalence rates in various animal population must be set up," he said. "A real time diagnosis with a good evaluation system must also be set up to check on the entry of diseases as trade increases," said Yahya, adding that these systems are vital to keep the national import policy intact. On another note, Yahya said the level of awareness on canine rabies must be increased among the public in view of the World Rabies Day. Rabies now kills one in every 500 people every 15 minutes, and mostly occur in developing countries like Asia, which now account for 55 per cent from the whole world, based on WHO figures. "Communities must realise canine rabies which is caused by dog bite is easily treated and eradicated," he said. Meanwhile, Veterinary Services and Animal Industry Department Director Dr Yeo Boon Kiat said the understanding and knowledge on zoonotic diseases have become more vital due to the changes in the present ecosystem. He said such changes happened in three important elements namely, host, agent and environment. Dr Yeo did not elaborate further, but insisted that knowledge on the prevention of the diseases transmitted from animals is the best response to combat its spread. World Rabies Day is observed every Sept 28 and Malaysia normally holds the event in the peninsula, especially in the "immune belt" states like Perlis, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan, which borders Thailand. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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However, the Federal Veterinary Service Department this year picked Sabah to host the event. This year the theme of World Rabies Day is "Together against Rabies."