Health DG: 137 Pos Kemar residents tested positive for malaria

PUTRAJAYA: A total of 137 residents of 17 villages in Pos Kemar, Hulu Perak, tested positive for malaria in a Mass Blood Survey (MBS) carried out until Wednesday (Dec 21), said Director-General of Health Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pix).
He said the group comprised 72 men and 65 women, and out of the total, 79 were children aged 14 years and below, who were all tested positive of malaria Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax), except for one case of Plasmodium falciparum.
"After the MBS were carried out in these villages, health personnel will monitor them continuously. Any individual who has a fever should undergo blood tests for malaria," he said in a statement, here today.
He said the malaria outbreak in Pos Kemar was first reported on Nov 16 when three people tested positive by health personnel for the type of P. vivax malaria after they complained of prolonged fever.
Previously, Pos Kemar was declared a malaria-free area (Green area) after the last case reported in the area was more than three years ago.
Dr Noor Hisham said in addition to the MBS drive, there were other activities (to control the outbreak) that had been stepped up in the villages involved.
Until last Wednesday, he said as many as 724 homes (100 per cent) in the Pos Kemar had been sprayed with indoor residual spraying, and all of its inhabitants were provided with mosquito nets.
"Other activities include larviciding to prevent the breeding of Anopheles mosquitoes in the area," he said.
In line with the National Strategic Planning for Elimination of Malaria, he said the MBS drive would be repeated one month from the date it was first conducted to ensure new cases to be successfully detected and subsequently curbed.
"The second MBS will begin Dec 27 in the villages which reported more than one per cent of malaria cases," he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said Active Case Detection (ACD) activity would also be implemented.
For ACD, he said health personnel would visit the villages and would take a sample of blood from those who show symptoms of fever.
"The Health Ministry expects the number of cases detected will show a decline during the second round of MBS," he said.
He said the current outbreak in Pos Kemar was due to the malaria parasite brought in by patients from outside the area with the main risk being through the entry of foreign workers (into the area).
He said it was the responsibility of employers to ensure their foreign workers were screened for malaria infection to prevent them from becoming the source of infection among the local community. — Bernama