Sabah ranks third in leptospirosis cases
Published on: Thursday, May 12, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah ranks among the top three states in the country with the highest incidence of a zoonotic disease known as 'leptospirosis' (kencing tikus) which could cause death.Sabah Health Department Principal Assistant Director (Epidemiology), Dr Maria Suleiman, said Sabah recorded 470 cases of leptospirosis with three deaths last year while 85 cases have been recorded as of May 7, this year."I would like to highlight that this leptospirosis where its main vector is rats in Sabah…we recorded quite high incidences of the zoonotic disease in the State.
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"Up to May 7 this year, Tenom had the highest number of cases of the disease with 15 cases, followed by 10 cases in Keningau, seven cases each in Kota Kinabalu and Tawau."But when looking at last year's statistics in our record, Kota Kinabalu was the highest with 54 cases, followed by 52 cases each in Penampang and Nabawan, 47 cases in Kinabatangan and 46 cases in Tawau," she said.Dr Maria said this in a press conference after the opening of the 3rd Seminar on Zoonotic Disease 2016 themed 'A Hidden Threat' at the State level organised by Sabah Health Department and Department of Veterinary Services and Animal Industry (Dovsai), here.Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Edward Yong, who is also Minister-in-charge of health matters in Sabah, officiated at the two day seminar that began Wednesday.
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Also present were Sabah Health Director Dr Christina Rundi, State Dovsai Director Dr Yeo Boon Kiat, Health Ministry Zoonotic Disease Sector Head Dr Zainuddin Abdul Wahab and other senior officials.Yong called on the people in Sabah ensure their houses and eateries are free from rats.
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He said they must be wary and take extra precaution against the disease by cleaning their houses and make sure no food and kitchen waste are left inside the house that would attract rats.Earlier when opening the seminar, Yong said leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease that recorded high incidences in Malaysia and generally in Sabah.Last year, he said there were a total of 8,291 leptospirosis cases with an incident rate of 27.20 for 100,000 people with 78 deaths reported in the country.While in Sabah, Yong said there were two deaths from among 78 cases recorded as of April 30 this year, which showed that the incidences of this disease in the State is high."I read from a Facebook entry recently that a man died after drinking a canned soft drink and later the family found out that the man died because he got infected by the leptospirosis virus that was discovered on the soft drink can."Hence, I am advising the public to make sure they clean any canned soft drinks before drinking it from the top as a prevention measure against the disease which can cause deaths," he said.On the presence of rats that can be seen in drains near some eateries in the city, Yong said City Hall together with the relevant quarters will conduct a campaign soon to catch rats in the city to eliminate the rodent problem.He said the operators and owners of eateries would be taught how to dispose their food and kitchen waste using the composting method.On Japanese Encaphalitis (J.E) in Sabah, he said Sabah runs the risk of being affected by this zoonotic disease where the host of the disease is the pig and its vector the mosquito.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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