Worst dengue outbreak in nations history: Kit Siang
The government should act swiftly to contain the dengue outbreak the worst in the nation's history which has so far claimed the lives of scores of Malaysians, said opposition party DAP.
Its chairperson Lim Kit Siang said the government, especially Umno politicians, should be especially concerned because the majority of the cases and fatalities have involved the Malays.
"This is not a racial issue as the aedes mosquito cannot differentiate between races when it spreads the deadly dengue virus, but it is (still) an important fact," he said in a press statement today.
Equally important, he said, is for data on the cases and fatalities in terms of ethnicity, age, gender and location to be used to devise and implement an effective anti-dengue strategy.
The World Health Organisation has issued an alert to countries in tropical regions, including Malaysia, to be prepared for an increase in the number of dengue cases in view of unusually wet weather conditions.
Dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever is endemic to Malaysia. It causes painful joints, fever and rashes within a week of infection.
The government should act swiftly to contain the dengue outbreak the worst in the nation's history which has so far claimed the lives of scores of Malaysians, said opposition party DAP.
Its chairperson Lim Kit Siang said the government, especially Umno politicians, should be especially concerned because the majority of the cases and fatalities have involved the Malays.
"This is not a racial issue as the aedes mosquito cannot differentiate between races when it spreads the deadly dengue virus, but it is (still) an important fact," he said in a press statement today.
Equally important, he said, is for data on the cases and fatalities in terms of ethnicity, age, gender and location to be used to devise and implement an effective anti-dengue strategy.
The World Health Organisation has issued an alert to countries in tropical regions, including Malaysia, to be prepared for an increase in the number of dengue cases in view of unusually wet weather conditions.
Dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever is endemic to Malaysia. It causes painful joints, fever and rashes within a week of infection.
Epidemic proportions
Lim also questioned why the government did not declare an epidemic last year, as must happen when an outbreak exceeds between 10 and 20 percent of the annual average occurrence.
He said for Malaysia, a conservative annual average of dengue cases would be between 10,000 and 15,000 cases.
"With the recent recording of over 30,000 cases and 62 deaths, an epidemic should have been declared last year," he added.
However, according to Health Ministry parliamentary secretary S Sothinathan, dengue fever claimed 54 lives in 2002, with 10,753 confirmed cases reported nationwide. In 2001, there were 8,669 dengue cases and 50 deaths.
Lim also said WHO data showed that there were 50 deaths during the dengue outbreak in 1997 and 58 in 1998 in Malaysia.
"All cabinet ministers should be answerable to the people as to why the government did not declare a dengue epidemic last year when (the death toll) was even worse than in 1997 and 1998," he said.
Last September, Kuala Lumpur and four states were placed on a dengue alert. Selangor topped the list of cases with some 5,000, followed by Kuala Lumpur with 4,094. Other states considered to be at high risk were Perak, Kelantan and Johor.
