Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah
KUCHING: The Ministry of Health (MOH) and Sarawak Health Department are closely monitoring the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) situation in Sarawak.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement today, said five cases were reported in Sarawak between Jan and June 23, this year, and all reported cases were sporadic and no JE epidemic was reported in the state.
“The affected areas were one case in Samarahan, Lawas, Julau, Miri and Sri Aman,” he said in a press statement today.
Dr Noor Hisham’s statement came following a recent statement by the Sarawak Health Department calling for caution after confirming that JE is endemic in the state.
According to Dr Noor Hisham, JE is caused by flavivirus virus that can cause the symptoms of ‘viral encephalitis’ and is a viral borne disease that is a mosquito.
“JE is endemic (a disease that is always present in certain areas) in all Asian countries including Malaysia. The JE Immunisation Programme was introduced in 2002 in Sarawak for the high incidence of JE case in Sarawak, which was 55 cases in 1999 with an incidence rate of 2.61 per 100,000 population.
“Two years after the Immunisation programme was implemented in the state, in 2004 the number of JE cases reported reduced to 22 cases and after 16 years of this programme, the number of JE cases decreased further to 10 cases in 2017.”
In citing a study conducted by Wong et al. (2008), Dr Noor Hisham said since the JE Immunisation Programme in Sarawak, the rate of JE incidence for the 12-year-old under-age group in Sarawak decreased from 9.8 cases per 100,000 population to 4.3 cases per 100,000 population.
“This clearly shows the successful implementation of this programme in Sarawak. Hence, MOH recommends that every parent in Sarawak ensure that their children get JE immunisation injections at the age of nine months and 21 months as set out in the immunisation schedule.”
Dr Noor Hisham advised local people to get immediate treatment if they have signs and symptoms of JE such as fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, mental state changes, neurological symptoms, weakness and disruption of movement.
Additionally, he said self-protection practices such as repellents and wearing clothed clothes that cover members can reduce the risk of biting mosquitoes and subsequent JE infections.