Smugglers blamed on virus

Smugglers blamed on virus

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): A pig-borne virus that has killed 97 people in Malaysia could spread to still unaffected regions of the country because pigs are being smuggled across state lines, health authorities have said.

Officials said on Saturday one more person had died in a pig- breeding region in Negeri Sembilan state, the focus of a viral encephalitis outbreak that has ravaged the country's US$400 million pork trade and hit tourism.

Another two people were admitted to hospitals after showing symptoms of viral encephalitis, bringing the total number of cases to 256 in three affected states since the outbreak began in October.

Health Minister Chua Jui Meng slammed pig industry workers for defying a nationwide ban on the movement of pigs, saying they were undermining government efforts to contain the spread of the epidemic.

"We now expect new viral encephalitis cases to be detected outside the affected areas," the official Bernama news agency quoted him as saying on Friday.