Health D-G: Outbreaks under control

PETALING JAYA: There are close to 13,000 cases of flood-related infectious diseases at relief centres in the devastated east coast states but no deaths so far.

Health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 12,765 flood victims were diagnosed with infectious diseases as of Monday.

He said the common diseases treated at the centres were acute respiratory infection, skin problem and fever.

The other infectious ailments monitored for were acute gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis, hand-foot-mouth disease, leptospirosis, dengue, typhoid, chicken pox and other notifiable diseases, he added.

“The outbreaks are well controlled with no cases requiring admission,” he said yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said there were 10 episodes of food poisoning where the victims were reported to have consumed food prepared more than four hours earlier but there had been no E. coli outbreaks so far.

He said 793 food handlers at relief centres had been vaccinated for typhoid.

“We will continue monitoring the infectious diseases in the centres and in the community as many victims have already returned to their homes,” Dr Noor Hisham added.

He said the active surveillance would continue for at least a month as some diseases had a long incubation period.

He said two helicopters were on standby for the ministry to use for critical cases.

Dr Noor Hisham also advised flood victims to take care of their mental and emotional health.

In Kota Baru, a Health Ministry statement said there had been 54 food poisoning cases since the flood started.

The number of people seeking consultation for acute gastroenteritis had increased from 240 to 280 a week. There were, however, not many cases of cholera or typhoid recorded in Kelantan, the statement said yesterday.

“Officials have inspected and sanitised 20,212 houses in 617 villages and disinfected 15,472 wells and 9,508 premises. Hand sanitisers were also handed out to the people in these areas,” the statement added.

Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital infectious diseases physician Dr Alwi Muhd Besari said the most common diseases treated by the hospital included typhoid or enteric fever, leptospirosis and melioilosis.

“About a month ago, we only had three patients with typhoid, one with leptospirosis and three with melioilosis,” he said, adding that the number had almost tripled since the floods.

A spokesperson for Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II said there had been more cases of typhoid fever, leptospirosis, food poisoning and diarrhoea.

“The numbers have already doubled since the floods started,” she said, but did not give exact statistics.

She feared there were many infected people who were not seeking treatment.