Reported cases sporadic across the state involving youths of different backgrounds
KUCHING: There has been an alarming increase in tuberculosis (TB) cases among youths in Sarawak over the last four years.
The state Health Department is closely monitoring the situation and to identify the causes behind the surge in those as young as 20.
“We are at a loss as to why there has been a resurgence of TB cases, especially among young people. It is an alarming situation and until now we have yet to identify the pattern, and this is perplexing to us,” Assistant Minister of Public Health Datuk Dr Jerip Susil told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He said presently the cases reported were sporadic ones across the state and among youths of different backgrounds.
Although attempts have been made to identify the cluster of origin, gender and vocation, no clear pattern has emerged.
Dr Jerip speculated that the problem could be due to urban-rural migration, which resulted in crowded living conditions in squatter areas.
“As these are young patients, we also suspect that the spread of the disease could have happened at the workplace as we have a very young workforce,” he said.
After Selangor and Sabah, Sarawak is the state with the most number of TB cases in the country.
In 2007, 1,703 TB cases were reported in Sarawak and this increased by a whopping 43 per cent to 2,430 cases in 2012.
Dr Jerip said one of the steps taken to halt the growing trend is more stringent monitoring over the entry of foreign workers.
“What we are worried about now is the entry of illegal foreign workers, who might end up in plantations or as maids for some families. As we all know, our boundary is very porous and it is not difficult to come over to our state as illegal workers.
“That is why we are also calling for cooperation from everyone in the state to help us to stop the entry of illegal workers or get them registered if they are already in the state to ensure that they go through proper medical check-ups,” he said.
He explained that contact tracing has also been difficult in Sarawak.
“Contact tracing is the way to curb TB and we have been unable to do contact tracing due to the constant change of address.
“The best that we have achieved now is doing contact tracing for the next of kin. Even so, it has been quite difficult. To do contact tracing with the patients’ colleagues or persons in contact has proven to be even more challenging,” he said.
The Bengoh assemblyman added that the general increase in TB could also be due to improved records as TB cases could now be immediately registered.
He stressed that TB is very contagious and easily spread through close contact, urging those showing symptoms to seek immediate medical attention.
TB symptoms include chronic coughing, loss of appetite and weight, night sweats and high fever.