BY LOH FOON FONG
Dengue hotspots: Larvae was found in a small puddle of water on a garbage bag in an alley in Damansara Utama SS22.
PETALING JAYA: The iDengue website, which tracks dengue hotspots nationwide, showed that even a well-maintained urban community such as SS22 here is among the top in the list of hotspots with 116 infections from June last year until Jan 24 this year.
At first glance, the area looked clean but its security committee member Michael Yea, 61, pointed out the plastic bottles and bags, and disposable polystyrene food containers filled with larvae hidden under bushes beside several houses.
Old tyres, dustbins filled with rain water, a house full of junk and containers and vacant houses were also identified as potential mosquito breeding spots.
“People are still generally not bothered and this is happening in many other neighbourhoods.
“If only each family can take care of their own backyard, this could reduce the number of infections,” he said.
Other top hotspots were Shah Alam Seksyen 7 Commercial Centre A with 214 cases in the last 158 days of outbreak (from Aug 20 to Jan 24) and Seksyen 7 (Flat A) with 90 cases in the last 172 days of outbreak (June 8 to Jan 24).
Hulu Langat 3/A-R Seksyen 3 Bandar Sri Putra had 71 cases in the last 136 days of outbreak (Sept 11 to Jan 24) and Gombak Kg Simpang 3 had 47 cases in the last 117 days of outbreak (Sept 30 to Jan 24).
On Wednesday, the Health Ministry said there were 8,502 dengue cases (Jan 1 to 24) nationwide compared with 5,141 cases in the same period last year.
It said 80% of dengue cases happened in home surroundings.
Yea, a retiree, said local councils must be more efficient as well.
He pointed to uncleared construction materials, garbage bags at the side of drains that had puddles of water and drains that were almost 70% filled with silt.
“Who is responsible for these?” he asked.
He also said the recently installed MBPJ dustbins at the playground were welcomed but without holes at the bottom of the bins to allow rain water to flow out, they could turn into mosquito breeding sites.
Those living in crowded neighbourhoods admitted keeping their community clean was a challenge.
Unemployed single mother Azian Abu Bakar, 30, who lived in a squatter area in Taman Datuk Seno in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, said she was not aware of any garbage collection service in her area.
“Most people living in my area burn their garbage as a way of disposal,” she said.
Azian’s son Adam Hakim, 13, was warded at the Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) on Jan 25.
Bangladeshi construction worker Dulal Farez, 31, who lived with seven other workers, said they tried their best to keep their place clean and his employers had also cleaned up the construction site following his infection.
“I don’t know where exactly I contracted dengue fever because none of my housemates or colleagues had dengue,” he said.
Drastic actions needed to reduce dengue cases
PETALING JAYA: The persistently high number of dengue cases in the past year are unlikely to go down unless drastic actions are taken.
Deputy Health director-general (public health) Datuk Lokman Hakim Sulaiman saidgotong-royong efforts on many occasions were poorly received by the public and were mainly participated by government agencies and staff.
Deputy Health director-general (medical) Datuk Dr S. Jeyaindran said the ministry had held dengue awareness and gotong-royong sessions but many residents had literally closed their doors at them when they arrived at their doorsteps.
While noting that conducive environment for mosquito breeding such as rain, hot and humid temperature, and serotype switch could aggravate the situation, there were many things the public could do to reduce the spread of infection and deaths.
Dr Lokman said the average Aedes breeding index remained high above threshold level of 1% throughout the year (ranging from 0.9% to 1.9%, while in some hotspot areas as high as 8%).
Mosquito breeding incidents were highest in empty lots (14.6%) and parks/recreational areas (8.0%) in 2014, he said.
“Littering is still a big problem in Malaysia with plastic bags, polystyrene cups and boxes which collect water found in public places,” said Dr Lokman.
Factory and construction sites were the next most common breeding places, with 6.3% and 5.8% respectively.
Asked if Malaysia should be more aggressive in enforcing the law like Singapore, he said Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was huge for a small country and they had 800 enforcement officers to inspect a country less than the size of Klang Valley while Malaysia had similar number of officers to cover the whole country.
Nevertheless, Dr Lokman pointed out that last year, more than five million premises were inspected and more than RM7mil in compounds had been issued but the mosquito breeding problem remained.
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