KUCHING: The State Health Department is investigating an allegation that cabbage imported from China was infected with rat urine (leptospirosis).
Assistant Health Minister Datuk Dr Jerip Susil, however, said there was no need for the public to be alarmed, just yet.
“We are investigating. Our food safety section personnel are collecting samples for tests,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday through Whatsapp – a mobile messaging app.
On Tuesday, Bernama reported that the state health authority had yet to receive a formal report from the woman who claimed to have contracted leptospirosis after eating cabbage imported from China.
Dr Jerip explained that there were many ways people could get infected.
The bacteria, for instance, could enter the human body through cracks on the skin, wounds, or through muscle linings.
Cabbage and other types of food that had been properly cooked are safe for human consumption, he said, in response to talks on Facebook that the woman was admitted to a private hospital here after eating cabbage, which was said to have been bought from a wet market.
The latest claim yesterday was that the woman’s son had to go in and out of another private hospital the past week for antibiotics against the disease.