Vigilant against Zika
The spread of Zika is controlled in Malaysia with public health prevention and control efforts.
ZIKA was declared a global health emergency in February 2016 by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
By Nov 18, WHO declared Zika no longer posed a world public health emergency but warned that it remains a challenge.
Universiti Malaya (UM) virologist Prof Dr Sazaly Abu Bakar warned Malaysians not to let their guard down as the infection could return.
He said research on Zika must continue because Zika cases were still being found in Vietnam.
“We don’t know when Zika will come back. We must be prepared,” he said.
Since 2015, 69 countries and territories have reported evidence of Zika virus transmission, said WHO.
More than 1.5 million people have been infected with Zika, mostly in Brazil, and more than 2,000 babies have been born with microcephaly since last year, it said. Microcephaly is a rare condition where a baby is born with a small head or the head stops growing after birth.
The Health Ministry announced the first Zika case in Malaysia on Sept 1. Eight people were confirmed infected with Zika as of Dec 10 in various parts of the country. One died due to heart complications. Two of the cases involved pregnant women.
Dr Sazaly said that he and his team at UM were awaiting government funding to continue with research into the prevalence of Zika cases in Sabah and the peninsula.
“We also hope to see whether microcephaly cases in the past here were linked to Zika,” he said.
He said currently, the team has developed a test kit for Zika and it was being evaluated but they would not be able to move further on Zika research unless UM gets more funding.
He said that a grant proposal has been submitted to the Higher Education Ministry.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that besides the eight confirmed cases diagnosed with Zika virus as of Dec 10, as many as 1,633 blood and urine samples of suspected cases were tested from June 2015 to Dec 10 this year.
He said that all six patients were well at the point of discharge from hospital except for the patient who died of heart complications while in hospital.
“There are two pregnant mothers who were infected with Zika virus in September and they are under close regular monitoring by the obstetrics and gynaecology specialists in their respective states,” he said.
He said that with public health prevention and control activities towards reducing Aedes mosquito population, the transmission of Zika virus in Malaysia was well controlled.
The slowdown in Zika virus transmission was mainly contributed by the active source reduction activities carried out by communities coupled with the integrated management by other agencies in ensuring that the environment is clean of Aedes breeding sites, he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said the National Dengue Task Force set up in 2014 comprising seven relevant ministries and agencies also tackles other diseases spread by Aedes mosquitoes such as Zika and Chikungunya.
He said the task force had also intensified the Aedes prevention and control activities through its “Mega Operation”, especially in problematic states.
From these activities, he said, the Ministry has seen a reduction in the number of dengue fever cases besides controlling the spread of Zika.
He said there were 97,041 cases this year up to Dec 10 compared with 113,500 cases for the same period last year, a reduction of 14.5% (16,459 cases).
The number of deaths this year up to Dec 10 were also fewer, with 228 deaths, compared with 304 deaths for the same period last year. This is 75 cases less (24.7%) than the figures recorded last year.
However, Dr Noor Hisham said that prevention efforts must continue.
“Zika surveillance at international entry points, especially for those coming back from affected countries, must be strengthened.
“If people have a history of travelling to affected countries and have symptoms and signs of Zika infection such as fever, rash and conjunctivitis, they need to seek immediate treatment at nearby clinics or hospitals.”
Dr Noor Hisham said there must also be increased health education on Zika prevention through the various media and more community participation in the Aedes mosquitoes prevention and control activities, especially in dengue hotspots through the Communication for Behavioural Impact (Combi) project.
As of Dec 2015, there are 3,007 Combi projects up and running. He added that the enforcement of the Destruction of DiseaseBearing Insects Act 1975 which is aimed at controlling the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes must also be intensified.
He reminded all Malaysians that the efforts in fighting Aedesrelated infections was a shared responsibility – “No Aedes, No Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya.”