Dengue most contagious disease since 2015

• At The Dewan Rakyat 

Dengue has remained the most contagious disease in Malaysia since 2015, said Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya.

He pointed out dengue consistently topped the five main diseases in the country for the past three years.

For 2015, the top five diseases were dengue (120,836 cases), tuberculosis (24,220 cases), Hand Foot and Mouth Disease HFMD (22,587 cases), food poisoning (14,433 cases) and leptospirosis (8,291 cases).

For 2016, dengue remained on top with 101,357 cases, followed by HFMD (47,008 cases), tuberculosis (25,739 cases), food poisoning (17,480 cases) and viral hepatitis (6,646 cases).

Between January and September this year, dengue again topped the list with 71,641 cases, followed by HFMD (26,030 cases), tuberculosis (19,430 cases), food poisoning (11,281 cases) and measles (6,646 cases), Dr Hilimi said in reply to a question by Dr Mansor Abdul Rahman (BN – Sik).

Dr Mansor had also asked if these diseases originated from foreign workers, as they frequently used public transportation which could make it easier to spread diseases.

Dr Hilmi said that it was difficult to determine if this was indeed the case, but that all foreign workers were subject to three medical examinations.