Materia Medica Malaysiana

14 Penans die in measles outbreak

MIRI: Thirteen children and an adult from a Penan community have died in a measles outbreak in the Bakun region.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam said a total of 66 measles cases had been recorded, with 14 deaths and some other cases which were “quite serious”.
“We are trying to find out whether this is a new strain of the virus and why the outbreak is so serious,” he added.
Dr Chan said those who died were from a longhouse in Sungai Urun in Belaga, located near the Bakun project site and 150km inland from Bintulu.
“Quite a number of cases have been rushed to Bintulu Hospital, some of them from the Sungai Asap resettlement scheme,” he told reporters here yesterday.
The dead were 13 children, aged three months to five years, and a man.
According to Dr Chan, who received the latest report on the outbreak from the state Health and Medical Services Department last night, the Penan community in Sungai Urun had never been exposed to measles.
However, one of them married an Iban woman from outside Belaga and the couple returned to the settlement recently.
The outbreak started some three weeks ago, with the last death recorded just a few days ago.
“From the report received, the deaths are due to complications, possibly pneumonia,” Dr Chan said.
He said there was a danger that the outbreak could be more widespread then initially expected as the native communities in the region were dispersed over a large area.
“The department has sent teams of medical personnel into the region to ascertain how many communities are actually affected by the outbreak,” he added.
When contacted, Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said the outbreak started on Dec 27, and there were still 17 cases in Bintulu Hospital as of Friday.
The ministry's disease control director, Dr Ramlee Rahmat, said measles outbreaks occurred from time to time and could lead to deaths if there was no immunisation.
If not treated early, he noted, a measles infection could lead to complications such as bacterial infection or pneumonia, which might be fatal in young children.