PUTRAJAYA, Sept 23 — Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa has confirmed that no Nipah cases have been detected in Malaysia since the last case was recorded on May 27, 1999. She...
PUTRAJAYA, Sept 23 — Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa has confirmed that no Nipah cases have been detected in Malaysia since the last case was recorded on May 27, 1999.
“So far, none of the animal samples have tested positive for the Nipah virus. Malaysia was declared free of the virus in 2001 by the World Organisation for Animal Health,” she said in a statement, here today. Dr Zaliha said Malaysia experienced its Nipah epidemic between September 1998 and May 1999 with 265 cases including 105 fatalities and since then monitoring and surveillance have been carried out regularly.
She said flying foxes and fruit bats from the Pteropodidae family are the natural hosts for the Nipah virus and it is spread via unprotected exposure to animal secretions or through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals.