Subra: Fight dengue together

Health Minister appeals for all parties to play their roles in fighting dengue and not just to expect the ministry to do all the work.

PETALING JAYA: The ‘war’ against dengue must be fought by all agencies and also the community by large, as it cannot be handled by the government alone, says Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam.

In explaining this to FMT during a recent interview, Subramaniam said the local governments should also take serious responsibility and proactive stand towards fighting the dengue menace.

Nevertheless he disagreed with the idea that the government, and in particular the health ministry, has failed in their efforts to curb the rise of dengue cases in the country.

“The situation could have been far worse if the government had not taken any measures to control the dengue in the nation,” he said.

Dengue fever is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. It is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes, principally A. aegypti.

Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles.

As there is no commercially available vaccine, prevention is sought by reducing the habitat and the number of mosquitoes; and limiting exposure to bites.

“Everybody must contribute towards reducing the breeding grounds for mosquito that enables larvae to populate.

“If we all work together we can reduce the number of breeding places as one way to control dengue,” said Subramaniam.

Subramaniam also stressed that our climate and geographical features had made it tougher to fight the spread of dengue.

“We use multiple methods such as insecticide fogging to kill the adult mosquito and also biological control methods in reducing the mosquito and larvae population,” described Subramaniam.

Types of dengue

There are five different types of the dengue virus, but according to Subramaniam, so far his ministry has only identified four types in Malaysia; namely serotype 1,2,3 and 4.

He further confirmed that at present the serotype 2 has been more prevalent and virulent compared to the others and it can cause death.

“As there is no available vaccine or effective anti-viral treatment at the moment, we are doing our best and all that is possible to manage the situation,” he said.

He also stressed that it was vital to detect the disease early to initiate appropriate treatment for those inflicted with dengue.

As of Feb 10 this year, the Health Ministry has recorded almost 11,000 dengue cases with 22 fatalities.

Commenting on the project that had used genetically modified mosquitoes (GM mosquitoes) to control the spread of active dengue mosquitoes, he said, “it is an expensive affair for the government to use that method in our country due to its vast area to cover.”

“If we have a smaller geographical location like an island, then it will be possible to use, but bigger location, it’s very expensive and cost millions of ringgit.

“The cost of getting the mosquito and larvae from a firm in UK and the scientific proprietary rights which belongs to them needs us to pay a huge sum to obtain them,” he added.

When asked on some recent reports of the serotype 5 of the dengue, Subramaniam said that at the current moment it was still not a confirmed case.

His ministry officials have yet to obtain more information and details from the claims made by some parties.