Dengue fever most prevalent infectious disease in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: The dengue fever brought by Aedes mosquitoes is listed as the most prevalent disease in the country with a ratio of 328.3 cases per 100,000 population.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said this was followed by the hand, foot, and mouth disease (152.25), leptospirosis (17.12), hepatitis B (12.60), and HIV (11.00).
He said the ministry had implemented a number of strategies specifically to control and prevent the disease from spreading.
"In order to address the incidence of dengue fever brought by Aedes mosquitoes, the ministry has implemented various preventive and control measures including using a web-based real time monitoring system, namely, eDengue and a dengue epidemic management system (SPWD) to enhance surveillance on case locality and dengue epidemic," he said at the question and answer session of the Dewan Rakyat today.
Responding to Dr Tan Seng Giaw's (DAP-Kepong) question on the incidence of contagious diseases in the country and its prevention strategy, he said gotong-royong activity was periodically carried out at breeding grounds for aedes mosquitoes, as well as a national level gotong royong of at least twice a year.
In addition, the Dengue Free programme and the setting up of the volunteer teams "Communications Programme for Behavioral Change" (Combi) in the mosquito breeding grounds are also strengthened.
In another development, Subramaniam said Malaysia was categorised as moderate for tuberculosis (TB) disease compared to other neighbouring countries namely Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
"The primary strategy for preventing tuberculous disease is the initial detection and treatment of all tuberculosis cases until patients are fully cured of the disease.
"Sputum examinations will be performed on patients with signs and symptoms including chest x-ray examinations for groups with a high risk of getting the disease.
"The diagnosis of TB is also enhanced by the purchase of LED fluorescent microscopes that can improve the sensitivity of bacterial detection," he said. — Bernama