KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 26, 2012): The Health Ministry is closely monitoring the situation on a reportedly new SARS-like repiratory virus detected in the Middle East.
Health Ministry Director-General Datuk Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman said the ministry is liaising with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the matter.
This follows a global alert issued on Monday by WHO about the virus which left a man from Qatar critically ill in a London hospital and killed at least one more in Saudi Arabia.
"The Health Ministry is working with WHO and its collaborating labs to get more information about this virus, its capability to cause transmission and also the cause of outbreak," Hasan told theSunwhen met at Parliament yesterday.
WHO has however classified the two cases in the Middle East as "isolated cases", he said.
"We are in contact with WHO which is looking to identify the capability of the virus to develop into an epidemic," he said.
"The moment the virus is detected, the immediate mode of transmission needs to be identified to enable the ministry to have strategic measures put in place."
Hassan said there was no need for Malaysians who are on their Haj pilgrimage to worry.
Hassan said there was no need for Malaysians who are on their Haj pilgrimage to worry.
He said the Saudi Arabian government has identified the risks for pilgrims which require mandatory vaccinations.
"At the top of the list is the risk of getting meningococcal meningitis, which is why they must be protected and vaccinated against this infection caused by bacteria.
"The other is neumococo vaccine for the lungs, which is optional," he added.
Meanwhile, the director of the Health Ministry's Disease Control Division, Dr Chong Chee Keong, said the division is finalising a surveillance format for the Malaysian medical team in Mecca.
"We are also preparing health education material for those who are performing their haj," he toldtheSun.
A Malaysian Pilgrims Fund Board (Tabung Haji) spokesman said it would act upon any directive received from both the health and foreign ministries. He said of the 28,400 Malaysian pilgrims performing their Haj in Mecca, the first batch is scheduled to return on Nov 1, while the last flight is due to reach KL International Airport on Nov 29.
WHO confirmed the new repiratory virus was in the coronavirus family but was not SARS, which swept out of China in 2003, killing more than 800 people worldwide.
"This is a new virus," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told AFP.
"We haven't heard of any more new cases. We don't have an appreciation of how widespread the virus is," Hartl said.
"This is one reason why we're trying to get more information. We don't know how it's transmitted."
According to WHO, the 49-year-old Qatari was admitted to an intensive care unit in Doha on Sept 7, suffering from acute respiratory infection and kidney failure before being transferred to Britain by air ambulance on Sept 11,
A Saudi Arabian national died earlier this year from a virtually identical virus, WHO said, while Saudi medical authorities said they were investigating other possible cases of the disease.
The Qatari first fell ill on Sept 3 after visiting Saudi Arabia.
Britain's Health Protection Agency which confirmed the presence of the new coronavirus and then found that it was a 99.5% match with a virus obtained from the lung tissue of a 60-year-old Saudi man who died earlier this year.
Coronaviruses are causes of the common cold but can also include more severe illnesses including SARS.
In Riyadh, the health ministry revealed that a total of three people, including the Qatari man, had been diagnosed with the virus after spending time in Saudi Arabia. The other two later died. – AFP
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