Sombre assembly: Pupils of SRJK (C) Pay Teck grieving the death of schoolmate Wei Zi Yuan who died of H1N1 on Wednesday. Health Minister Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam has urged doctors to go the extra mile by checking H1N1 patients for other problems too. — A MALEX BIN YAHAYA / The Star
PETALING JAYA: More hand, foot and mouth disease cases are expected this year but the Health Ministry has given an assurance that the situation is under control.
And the public have been asked to take the necessary precautions.
From January to April 11, a total of 13,497 cases were reported nationwide, an average of 964 a week, a statement from minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said.
This was an increase of 83% over the same period last year, at 7,368 cases, he said yesterday.
Health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry was concerned about the increase.
“However, the situation is still under control,” he said.
He said HFMD was endemic in Malaysia and occurred throughout the year, with one or two peaks a year.
“Based on our monitoring, a large peak occurs once every three years. The last large peak was in 2012 with 34,519 cases but only one death. We expect a large peak this year,” he said.
A Year One girl suffered from fever and pain in the arms and mouth for five days before being admitted to Hospital Sultan Ismail in Johor Baru last Friday. She died the next day.
Dr Noor Hisham said the large increase was probably due to accumulation of a “naive population” among the younger children who had not been exposed to the disease.
He said the ministry had raised awareness of HFMD, especially in kindergartens and child care centres.
Prevention and control measures were taken, especially in outbreak areas (defined as two cases in the same locality and within the same incubation period), he said.
The ministry was also strengthening the medical management of HFMD cases and conducting virological surveillance.
“Until now, there is no increase in the virulence of the circulating HFMD viruses,” he said.
Statistics revealed that Sarawak contributed the most HFMD cases with 6,333 cases, followed by Selangor (2,727), Johor (919), Kuala Lumpur (661), Perak (642) and Sabah (593). Other states had fewer than 400 cases.
The virus is spread through saliva, blisters and faeces of those infected, with an incubation period of three to five days.
The ministry advised parents and guardians to be alert and not bring children to public places, schools, kindergartens and nursery if they have the symptoms but bring them to a doctor.
They should also adhere to proper hygiene and wash hands with water and soap after going to the toilet, touching napkins, after touching or treating blisters and after washing children’s faeces.
No comments:
Post a Comment