Rise in tuberculosis, leprosy cases in 2017: Dr Subramaniam

KUANTAN: The number of tuberculosis (TB) and leprosy cases in the country recorded an increase last year, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.
He said for TB cases, 26,168 new cases were recorded last year, up by 8% compared to 24,220 cases in 2015.
Meanwhile for leprosy cases, 214 were recorded last year compared to 206 cases in 2016 with 13 new cases involving children in Kelantan, Pahang, Sabah and Terengganu.
"The increase number in TB cases was the result of the health screenings that have been carried out. Last year, a total of 418,897 from TB high-risk groups went through x-ray screenings with 3,631 new cases detected and subsequently treated.
"Deaths due to TB in 2015 was at 5.5 per 100,000 population and has risen to 6.8 per 100,000 last year," he said at the national level of the World TB and Leprosy Day celebration at the Felda Bukit Goh here, today.
The text of his speech was read by Health deputy director-general (Public Health) Datuk Dr Azman Abu Bakar. Also present was state health director Dr Sha'ari Ngadiman.
Subramaniam said from the statistics recorded last year, a total of 23,035 TB patients were locals while for leprosy cases, the state that recorded the highest number was Sabah with 72 cases, followed by Selangor (34 cases), Johor (20 cases) and Pahang (19 cases).
On new cases of leprosy involving young children, aged three to 14, he said new leprosy infection in the community with eight new cases with Grade 2 deformities were recorded.
"TB patients are required to undergo a minimum of six months of treatment while for leprosy cases, they need between six and 18 months. For TB patients who stopped the treatment (before completing), they can get reinfected by the bacteria and in 2016, there were 1,226 cases of TB patients who didn't complete their treatment," he said.
Earlier Sha'ari said a total of 936 TB patients in Pahang were detected last year with 85 deaths recorded.
He said the Kuantan district recorded the highest number of 314 TB cases while 19 leprosy cases were also recorded in 2017.
"Free treatment is given to TB patients and last year, the government spent RM234,000 on TB patients in Pahang," he added. — Bernama