Chua: Ipoh viral outbreak minor

Star: PUTRAJAYA: The latest outbreak of the Chikungunya virus in Ipoh is minor and confined to a small area and is well under control, according to Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.
He said 30 people at a scrapyard in Jalan Bendahara tested positive for the virus but were not quarantined.
“Only two were hospitalised and there was no mortality,” he said, adding that the Chikungunya was an imported disease.
“Those affected are either workers from India or Malaysians who have returned from India.
“It is only confined to 30 people in the community involved in the scrap industry, which comprises 1,430 people.”
Dr Chua said the Chikungunya virus was not endemic to Malaysia but to India and Myanmar.
As the situation was under control and confined to a small area, he said, there was no point in alarming the people, especially tourists who would mistake it for a major outbreak.
The Aedes mosquito, he said, carried the Chikungunya virus, and those contracting the virus suffer from fever, headache, fatigue, nausea and muscle and joint pains.
“It is so rare that most doctors have not heard of Chikungunya,” he told reporters after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi broke the ground for the new National Cancer Institute here yesterday.
Dr Chua also said there was no disease outbreak reported in flood-hit areas in Johor, Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu and Malacca.