Low Public Awareness Contributes To Spread Of HFMD In Sarawak

KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (Bernama) -- The low awareness among the public is among the reasons why the number of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) cases in Sarawak remains high, the Dewan Rakyat was told Thursday.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said prevention of the disease should have been easy through practising good personal hygiene, including washing the hands and not touching infected people.
Abdul Latiff said this in reply to a motion on the HFMD tabled by Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Bandar Kuching).
The Deputy Minister also said that producing a vaccine against the disease was difficult and not cost-effective because the virus strain changed constantly.
"Researchers have found that the present outbreak in Sarawak is caused by the B5 strain of the EV71 virus which is different from the 1987 outbreak caused also by the EV71 virus but of the B2 strain," he said.
Abdul Latiff said the government had taken the necessary measures to contain the disease including sending alert letters to all states.
The Health Ministry also sent 40 officers to Sarawak to monitor the situation and assist the state government in fighting the disease.
"For the moment, we have not identified the source of the outbreak as it requires more detailed studies," he said.
As of Wednesday, 4,994 suspected HFM cases were reported in Sarawak while the number of deaths stood at eight up to Thursday.
The Dewan will sit again on Monday.