Malaria outbreak in Perak
Monday, April 23, 2007
AN OUTBREAK of malaria in a Malaysian state has been blamed on infection by immigrant workers from neighbouring Thailand, a report said yesterday.
Infected Thai nationals working as rubber-tappers in the northern Malaysian state of Perak are believed to have passed the disease on to locals via the bites of mosquitoes, said state chief minister Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali.
He said the workers are believed to be carrying a strain of malaria that does not respond well to vaccine administered by the health department, and that mosquitoes were spreading the strain to locals.
"The strain infecting the people is different from that which we normally face and our vaccine does not seem to work," Mohamad Tajol was quoted as saying by the New Sunday Times .
Seven villages in the state have reported an outbreak of malaria since last month, with 61 people testing positive for the disease. Medical officers are in the affected areas to treat both foreign workers and the locals.
DPA
Infected Thai nationals working as rubber-tappers in the northern Malaysian state of Perak are believed to have passed the disease on to locals via the bites of mosquitoes, said state chief minister Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali.
He said the workers are believed to be carrying a strain of malaria that does not respond well to vaccine administered by the health department, and that mosquitoes were spreading the strain to locals.
"The strain infecting the people is different from that which we normally face and our vaccine does not seem to work," Mohamad Tajol was quoted as saying by the New Sunday Times .
Seven villages in the state have reported an outbreak of malaria since last month, with 61 people testing positive for the disease. Medical officers are in the affected areas to treat both foreign workers and the locals.
DPA
Business Besides Oil
