Rats! Gunung Belumut Recreational Forest shuts down due to leptospirosis

JOHOR BARU: The Gunung Belumut Recreational Forest Area in Kluang, about 137km from here has been closed indefinitely, beginning today, when two siblings were infected with leptospirosis (rat urine disease) after visiting the area on Feb 16.
The boy and girl are aged five and seven, respectively. They had gone to the forest area with their family and relatives.
Johor Health, Environment, Education and Information Committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat said the closure was to enable investigations to be carried out by the parties concerned, including to obtain water sampling results at the recreational centre.
He said a 'gotong-royong' would be held to clean up the area besides installing rat traps to detect leptospirosis.
According to Ayub, the state health department had also installed health warning signs at the entrance of the area to explain health risks to visitors.
"Given the recreational area has no clean water supply, the risk of getting gastroenteritis infection is high, especially for those high risk groups picnicking there.
"No shower facility after dipping in the river also increases the risk of infection through skin, like leptospirosis and others. In line with this, the area is closed from March 19," he said in a statement here today.
According to Ayub, further checks revealed that nine more individuals who had joined the two children and their family had similar symptoms. — Bernama