KL unveils more measures to curb encephalitis virus

KL unveils more measures to curb encephalitis virus

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysia, saying it was facing an
emergency, on Thursday announced new measures to curb a fatal
encephalitis outbreak that has killed up to 61 people over six
months.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said buffer zones
would be created around infected pig farms and all pigs in the
zones would be slaughtered.

"We are facing an emergency situation in our country,"
Abdullah was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency
after chairing a cabinet task force charged with curbing the
epidemic.

"We have decided to use the preventative approach because of
the pig farms in other areas which are highly likely to be
infected with the virus, which is transmitted by the Culex
mosquito," he said.

The cabinet on Wednesday named Abdullah to replace Health
Minister Chua Jui Meng as head of the task force which was set up
on March 17, amid fears the Japanese encephalitis virus could
affect other livestock.

Foreign reporters were barred from the press conference at
which Abdullah spoke.

Health officials said three more people, all from Negeri
Sembilan state, had died, raising the death toll to 61 since the
outbreak began in October.

Nine others were suspected to have contracted the mosquito-
borne virus, bringing to 166 the number of infections so far,
they said.

The epidemic first broke out in pig farms in the northern
state of Perak in October and was reported to have killed 15
people before spreading to Negeri Sembilan state in the southwest
two months later.

Compounding the problem, a new encephalitis strain called
"Hendra" -- first discovered in 1994 affecting horses and human
in Brisbane, Australia -- was found in some patients.

The epidemic has prompted a health scare and crippled
Malaysia's 1.5 billion ringgit ($395 million) pig rearing
industry.

Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik, the task force deputy
chairman, was quoted as saying that all pigs including healthy
ones within the buffer zones would be killed.

"What we have decided today is that we will not just pay
attention to infected areas. What is important is to create a
buffer zone around the infected areas and destroy all within that
circle," he added.

Ling said soldiers would continue mass pig culling operations
in four villages in Negeri Sembilan and might try a new killing
process using carbon monoxide to speed up the exercise.

The operation, which began Saturday, aims to kill some 320,000
infected pigs in 10 days.

A Malaysian soldier got his toe fractured when a 200 kilogram
pig went wild and stepped on his foot during a mass culling
operation, a report said on Thursday.

The incident occurred when the soldier and his colleagues were
herding the pigs to a pen to shoot them, The Sun newspaper said.

More than 20 pigs in the pen panicked and one stomped on the
soldier's foot.

Bernama said Second Finance Minister Mustapa Mohamed would
head a new committee to decide on financial aid for pig farmers
and handle culling and vaccination expenses.

Five members of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention have arrived along with two Australian experts, it
said.

Mohamad Izat Emir, chairman of the National Consumer
Protection Council, said the outbreak should prick the conscience
of authorities and pig farmers who had "closed one eye" to
unhygienic rearing methods.

He called for a national program to relocate pig breeders in
centralized modern farms.