Authorities battle disease in flood zone
Malaysian authorities were today battling to curb outbreaks of waterborne disease, including some 2,000 cases of dysentery, in the country's south, which has been hit by devastating floods.
There had also been one fatality among seven cases of leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread by animal urine.
Malaysian authorities were today battling to curb outbreaks of waterborne disease, including some 2,000 cases of dysentery, in the country's south, which has been hit by devastating floods.
Health officials said there had also been one fatality among seven cases of leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread by animal urine, in the southern state of Johor which borders Singapore. 
The health ministry's director for disease control, Ramlee Rahmat, said that acute gastroenteritis, respiratory infections and skin rashes had also broken out among flood victims.
Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said late Tuesday that some 2,000 cases of dysentry had been reported in the last three days, mostly at evacuation centres, according to the state Bernama news agency.
He said about 200 hospital staff from other states would be sent to Johor Wednesday to help health officials cope with an expected surge of flood-related illnesses.
"We expect that sick people will throng hospitals and clinics once the flood is over and that is why we decided to increase the number of staff at them," he was quoted as saying.
Moving the rain
Johor authorities have appealed to flood victims to refrain from taking pets and livestock to evacuation centres to prevent the spread of disease from animals to humans, Bernama reported.
Weather conditions continued to ease in Johor Wednesday, but there were still some 79,888 evacuees in relief centres, down from a peak of about 110,000 on Monday. 
Flood victims are also returning home in the other affected states of central Pahang and Sabah on Borneo island, with the numbers of evacuees now at 1,481 in Pahang and 878 in Sabah.
The Royal Malaysian Air Force is reportedly planning to conduct cloud-seeding activities over the sea to try to make the rain fall there, rather than adding to the deluge on land.
Authorities are also planning to use pumps to suck out water in the worst-hit Johor district of Batu Pahat, which is expected to remain flooded for another two to three weeks because of drainage problems, Bernama said.
