Expert warns of Zika threat from illegal migrants

PETALING JAYA: The Government must address the huge number of illegal migrants in the country if it wants to succeed in stopping the spread of Zika, said a researcher.

Universiti Malaya Centre for Poverty & Development Studies Senior Research Fellow (Health & Social Policy) Chan Chee Khoon said quarantine and meticulous contact tracing – which helped to break the chains of transmission – would be difficult to implement when large populations of undocumented migrants tend to avoid contact with government agencies.

“If an effective vaccine is not rolled out quickly, most of us will eventually be naturally ‘vaccinated’ by Zika bearing Aedes, with mild or even asymptomatic infections,” he said.

Chan said that while refugees would have the UNHCR to watch out for their needs, undocumented migrants were especially vulnerable to exploitation, intimidation, and abuse by employers, labour contractors (brokers), and enforcement personnel.

The Health Ministry announced the first Zika case reported in the country last Thursday. A 58-year-old woman in Bandar Botanic Klang contracted the virus after visiting her daughter in Singapore.

A second case, the first locally-transmitted one reported, invol­ved a 61-year-old man in Taman Public Jaya Likas, Sabah on Sa­turday. He later died of heart complications.

On Wednesday, a 27-year-old woman from Johor Baru became the country’s first pregnant woman to be infected with Zika.

Yesterday, the Ministry issued a statement saying the husband of the pregnant women has been confirmed as the fourth patient to be infected by the disease.

“The patient has no other close contacts in Malaysia other than his mother-in-law and his wife,” said Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Noor Hisham said the number of confirmed Zika cases as of Friday stands at four cases.