Residents may face malaria risk

Star: KUANTAN: With extensive clearing going on in parts of Bukit Pelindung over recent months, residents in this posh area may face the threat of a malaria outbreak.
The hill-clearing has created an environment conducive to the reproduction of the mosquito, A. maculatus, a malaria vector that breeds in open spaces on higher ground where there is direct sunlight and clear running water.
Resident Datuk Dr Yeow Seng Huat said the influx of foreign workers due to large housing projects in the area would increase the risk of such an outbreak and urged the authorities to take the necessary preventive measures.
“It's a known fact that once all the requirements are met, nothing can really stop the disease from rearing its ugly head,” said the medical practitioner and former senator.
A senior Health Department staff member confirmed that hilly areas that had been cleared were the ideal breeding grounds for the mosquito.
“Foreign workers may very well be carriers of the disease,” he said, adding that the department might have inadvertently overlooked the possibility of an outbreak of malaria in urban areas.
Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the nearby Beserah area was a “malarial area”.
State deputy health director Dr Ahmad Nordin Mohd Jais, however, maintained that malaria cases had only been reported in interior areas in the state such as Lipis.
He said based on the fact that no reports of cases had been referred to the department from Kuantan, it was unlikely that an outbreak would occur.