This paper examines the trend and possible contributing factors for the occurrence of the food borne diseases outbreaks in Malaysia. These diseases mainly are cholera, typhoid fever, hepatitis A, dysentery and food poisoning. The outbreaks still occur sporadically in certain high risk areas throughout the country. The incidence rate of all the other three major food borne diseases steadily declined from the year 1988 to 1997 except for food poisoning and cholera. Statistic of food poisoning from the year 1996 to 1997 showed that 66.5% of the outbreak occurred in schools whereas only 0.4% originated from the contaminated food sold at various public food outlets. The school age group is always more affected than the general population. Amongst the contributing factors identified are related to unhygienic food handling practices followed by inadequate safe water supply and poor environmental sanitation. A multisectoral approach between Ministry of Health and other government agencies or private agents needs to be undertaken in the management of the food borne diseases in order to curb the incidences of food borne diseases in Malaysia.
An outbreak of dengue and dengue haemorrhagic fever was studied in Bandar Baru Bangi, Hulu Langat District which started from epidemiological week 51 of December 2001 until ]anuary 2002. Altogether, 53 cases were reported to the Hulu Langat District Health Office with 24 cases detected in Section I and Section 6, and 5 cases in Section 4 of Bandar Baru Bangi respectively. Two cases were confirmed as dengue haernorrhagic fever (DHF). The majority of the cases were female Malays. The age of the cases ranged from 3 to 60 years with a mean of 29.17 : 13.18 years old. The majority of patients were mainly private sector workers from factories or companies with 29 cases (54.7%) and university students with 14 cases (26.4%). No deaths were reported in this outbreak. On the average, the duration taken for a patient to be admitted from the date of onset was about 4.4 - 2.0 days and the duration taken for notification from the date of admission was about 2.0 - 1.7 days. The majority of cases reported were based on classical clinical features of dengue fever. Only 18 cases (34%) were IgM positive for dengue. The statistical analysis showed that the majority were male (P>0.05), Malays (P>0.05) , age group of 21»30 years (P>0.05), platelets level < 100,000 per mm3 (p>0.05) and the serological specimens obtained 5 days after the date of onset (p2.0%) within residential premises in this locality with 46 Aedes mosquito breeding places identified and a total amount of RM 6500 of fines imposed.
Kajian sero»prevalens dijalankan untuk menentukan prevalens kes Hepatitis A dan ciri-ciri demografinya di Kampung Pangsoon, Kampung Padang dan Kampung Lubuk Kelubi, di Mukim Hulu Langat, pada 15 dan 16 Mac 2003. Sebanyak 1643 sampel telah diperiksa dan didapati 995 kes (60.6%) telah terdeclah tehadap jangkitan Hepatitis A iaitu sebanyak 327 kes di Kampung Pangsoon, 400 kes, Kampung Padang dan 268 kes di Kampung Lubuk Kelubi. Majoriti kes adalah perempuan 545 kes (54 .7%), etnik Melayu 752 kes (75 .6%) , berusia kurang daripada 40 tahun (65%) dengan min umurnya 25 .4 tahun ( SP 1 9) dan tahap pendidikan di peringkat sekolah rendah. Kes di kalangan Orang Asli pula sebanyak 231 kes (23 .2%) . Lebih kurartg 40.3% kes telah bekerja, dengan pendapatan kurang daripada RM1000 sebulan. Majoriti kes mempunyai tandas sempurna 92Z( 95.4% ), sistem air limbah 846( 91 .2%), bekalan air seharrtat 930(96.4%) dan sistem lubang sampah 426( 44.6%) . Terdapat perbezaan yang bererti (p
A Hepatitis A outbreak occurred in Mukim Hulu Langat, Hulu Langat district from April 2002 to October 2002. Of the 51 cases notified, most were among students and the ethnic groups involved were Malays and the Orang Asli (local indigenous community). Epidemiological investigations revealed that the cases were localized along rivers used for recreational activities in this area. River water analysis indicated human faecal contamination and it was believed that the contamination was due to the Orang Asli community living upstream. This occurred due to lack of toilet facilities, water at point of use and the existing traditional practices of the Orang Asli community. Control measures instituted were intense health education to the Orang Asli to avoid using the rivers for defecation, multi agency efforts to provide sanitary toilets and adequate water to the villages affected. Future measures include conducting a sero- prevalence survey to determine the feasibility of Hepatitis A immunization to the susceptible population in this area. The outbreak that began in April 2002 was controlled by October 2002.