Displaying publications 121 - 140 of 685 in total

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  1. Fulltext A respite from chikungunya for now
    Lim KG
    Med J Malaysia, 2010 Dec;65(4):255.
    PMID: 21901939
    In the last four years, Malaysia has had three outbreaks of chikungunya virus infection. The first two occurred in Perak in 2006.The third began in Johor in early 2008. The genome of the viruses suggests that on each occasion a different virus was introduced into the population. The first outbreak in Bagan Panchor was due to an Asian genotype virus. The second in the Kinta district of Perak in late 2006 was due to a Central/East African genotype virus. Contact tracing was even able to discover the patient who was the source of the virus from the Indian subcontinent. The third outbreak in Johor was also of a Central/East African strain of virus, but introduced independently. The epidemiology of that outbreak is described in this issue of the MJM.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  2. Fulltext Genome Sequence of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica Serovar Typhi Isolate PM016/13 from Untreated Well Water Associated with a Typhoid Outbreak in Pasir Mas, Kelantan, Malaysia
    Muhamad Harish S, Sim KS, Najimudin N, Aziah I
    Genome Announc, 2015;3(6).
    PMID: 26564032 DOI: 10.1128/genomeA.01261-15
    Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhi is a human-restricted pathogen that causes typhoid fever. Even though it is a human-restricted pathogen, the bacterium is also isolated from environments such as groundwater and pond water. Here, we describe the genome sequence of the Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhi PM016/13 which was isolated from well water during a typhoid outbreak in Kelantan, Malaysia, in 2013.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  3. Fulltext Scleractinian corals (Fungiidae, Agariciidae and Euphylliidae) of Pulau Layang-Layang, Spratly Islands, with a note on Pavonamaldivensis (Gardiner, 1905)
    Waheed Z, Benzoni F, van der Meij SE, Terraneo TI, Hoeksema BW
    Zookeys, 2015.
    PMID: 26312025 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.517.9308
    Layang-Layang is a small island part of an oceanic atoll in the Spratly Islands off Sabah, Malaysia. As the reef coral fauna in this part of the South China Sea is poorly known, a survey was carried out in 2013 to study the species composition of the scleractinian coral families Fungiidae, Agariciidae and Euphylliidae. A total of 56 species was recorded. The addition of three previously reported coral species brings the total to 59, consisting of 32 Fungiidae, 22 Agariciidae, and five Euphylliidae. Of these, 32 species are new records for Layang-Layang, which include five rarely reported species, i.e., the fungiids Lithophyllonranjithi, Podabaciasinai, Sandalolithaboucheti, and the agariciids Leptoseriskalayaanensis and Leptoseristroglodyta. The coral fauna of Layang-Layang is poor compared to other areas in Sabah, which may be related to its recovery from a crown-of-thorns seastar outbreak in 2010, and its low habitat diversity, which is dominated by reef slopes consisting of steep outer walls. Based on integrative molecular and morphological analyses, a Pavona variety with small and extremely thin coralla was revealed as Pavonamaldivensis. Since specimens from Sabah previously identified as Pavonamaldivensis were found to belong to Pavonaexplanulata, the affinities and distinctions of Pavonamaldivensis and Pavonaexplanulata are discussed.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  4. Fulltext Molecular characterization of Nipah virus from Pteropus hypomelanus in Southern Thailand
    Wacharapluesadee S, Samseeneam P, Phermpool M, Kaewpom T, Rodpan A, Maneeorn P, et al.
    Virol J, 2016;13(1):53.
    PMID: 27016237 DOI: 10.1186/s12985-016-0510-x
    Nipah virus (NiV) first emerged in Malaysia in 1998, with two bat species (Pteropus hypomelanus and P. vampyrus) as the putative natural reservoirs. In 2002, NiV IgG antibodies were detected in these species from Thailand, but viral RNA could not be detected for strain characterization. Two strains of NiV (Malaysia and Bangladesh) have been found in P. lylei in central Thailand, although Bangladesh strain, the causative strain for the outbreak in Bangladesh since 2001, was dominant. To understand the diversity of NiV in Thailand, this study identified NiV strain, using molecular characterizations, from P. hypomelanus in southern Thailand.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  5. An appraisal of El Tor carrier state in Kelantan
    Dutt AK, Tan Hock Joo
    Med J Malaya, 1971 Mar;25(3):205-7.
    PMID: 4253247
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  6. Fulltext COVID-19 exit strategy: Transitioning towards a new normal
    Jamaludin S, Azmir NA, Mohamad Ayob AF, Zainal N
    Ann Med Surg (Lond), 2020 Nov;59:165-170.
    PMID: 33024558 DOI: 10.1016/j.amsu.2020.09.046
    The COVID-19 outbreak from the SARS-CoV-2 virus has shocking us with its fast transmission and deadly complication. Due to that, the movement restriction has been enforced to contain this pandemic. Recently, there is an increasing pressure to restart and resurrect social and economic sectors, and to allow people to get back to work. This must be well planned before the movement restriction is lifted. Because of that, this paper aims to review and make recommendations on the new normal for our daily activities and works. Firstly, the social and economic sectors must be opening in phases by emphasizing safety and health than an economic recovery. In the meantime, the WHO recommendations on social distancing and personal hygiene must be adapted and become a new normal. Because of that, the government and local authorities should develop a soft landing approach based on the WHO recommendations. Next, the community must be engaged and empowered to do their parts in preventing the spread of COVID-19. From the new normal recommendations, the people can continue their daily routines, and at the same time can reduce COVID-19 transmission. However, medical possibilities are not considered while compiling these new normals and procedures. The population must adapt and embrace the new normal to control, reduce and prevent the spreading of COVID-19, as it could be with us for a long time.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  7. A review of historical and recent locust outbreaks: Links to global warming, food security and mitigation strategies
    Peng W, Ma NL, Zhang D, Zhou Q, Yue X, Khoo SC, et al.
    Environ Res, 2020 12;191:110046.
    PMID: 32841638 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.110046
    Locusts differ from ordinary grasshoppers in their ability to swarm over long distances and are among the oldest migratory pests. The ecology and biology of locusts make them among the most devastating pests worldwide and hence the calls for actions to prevent the next outbreaks. The most destructive of all locust species is the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria). Here, we review the current locust epidemic 2020 outbreak and its causes and prevention including the green technologies that may provide a reference for future directions of locust control and food security. Massive locust outbreaks threaten the terrestrial environments and crop production in around 100 countries of which Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya are the most affected. Six large locust outbreaks are reported for the period from 1912 to 1989 all being closely related to long-term droughts and warm winters coupled with occurrence of high precipitation in spring and summer. The outbreaks in East Africa, India and Pakistan are the most pronounced with locusts migrating more than 150 km/day during which the locusts consume food equivalent to their own body weight on a daily basis. The plague heavily affects the agricultural sectors, which is the foundation of national economies and social stability. Global warming is likely the main cause of locust plague outbreak in recent decades driving egg spawning of up to 2-400,000 eggs per square meter. Biological control techniques such as microorganisms, insects and birds help to reduce the outbreaks while reducing ecosystem and agricultural impacts. In addition, green technologies such as light and sound stimulation seem to work, however, these are challenging and need further technological development incorporating remote sensing and modelling before they are applicable on large-scales. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the 2020 locust outbreak is the worst in 70 years probably triggered by climate change, hurricanes and heavy rain and has affected a total of 70,000 ha in Somalia and Ethiopia. There is a need for shifting towards soybean, rape, and watermelon which seems to help to prevent locust outbreaks and obtain food security. Furthermore, locusts have a very high protein content and is an excellent protein source for meat production and as an alternative human protein source, which should be used to mitigate food security. In addition, forestation of arable land improves local climate conditions towards less precipitation and lower temperatures while simultaneously attracting a larger number of birds thereby increasing the locust predation rates.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  8. Fulltext Defending against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak: How can the Internet of Things (IoT) help to save the world?
    Rahman MS, Peeri NC, Shrestha N, Zaki R, Haque U, Hamid SHA
    Health Policy Technol, 2020 Jun;9(2):136-138.
    PMID: 32322475 DOI: 10.1016/j.hlpt.2020.04.005
    •IoT within infectious disease epidemiology is an emerging field of research, however the ubiquitous availability of smart technologies, as well as increased risks of infectious disease spread through the globalization and interconnectedness of the world necessitates its use for predicting, preventing and controlling emerging infectious diseases.•Considering the present situation in China, IoT based smart disease surveillance systems have the potential to be a major breakthrough in efforts to control the current pandemic. With much of the infrastructure itself in place already (i.e. smartphones, wearable technologies, internet access) the role this technology can have in limiting the spread of the pandemic involves only the collection and analysis of data already gathered.•More research must be carried out for the development of automated and effective alert systems to provide early and timely detection of outbreaks of such diseases in order to reduce morbidity mortality and prevent global spread.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  9. Fulltext Implication of predator interaction of the spread of hantavirus infection
    Yusof, F. M., Md. Ismail, A. I. B., Abu Hasan, Y.
    MATEMATIKA, 2018;34(2):205-226.
    MyJurnal
    Hantaviruses are etiological agents of zoonotic diseases and certain other dis-
    eases, which pose a serious threat to human health. When rodent and predator popula-
    tions share in an ecology, the competitive force of the populations can lead to a reduction
    or elimination of a hantavirus outbreak. The effect of the predator eliminating rodents
    and predator populations that tends to reduce or eliminate hantavirus infection is investi-
    gated. The existence of several equilibrium points of the model is identified and local and
    global stabilities of the model at these equilibrium points are analysed in detail. Numerical
    simulations are carried out to illustrate our model results.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  10. Fulltext Genome sequencing and analysis of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi strain CR0063 representing a carrier individual during an outbreak of typhoid fever in Kelantan, Malaysia
    Baddam R, Kumar N, Shaik S, Suma T, Ngoi ST, Thong KL, et al.
    Gut Pathog, 2012;4(1):20.
    PMID: 23234298 DOI: 10.1186/1757-4749-4-20
    Salmonella Typhi is a human restricted pathogen with a significant number of individuals as asymptomatic carriers of the bacterium. Salmonella infection can be effectively controlled if a reliable method for identification of these carriers is developed. In this context, the availability of whole genomes of carrier strains through high- throughput sequencing and further downstream analysis by comparative genomics approaches is very promising. Herein we describe the genome sequence of a Salmonella Typhi isolate representing an asymptomatic carrier individual during a prolonged outbreak of typhoid fever in Kelantan, Malaysia. Putative genomic coordinates relevant in pathogenesis and persistence of this carrier strain are identified and discussed.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  11. Modelling Asthma Cases by Count Analysis Approach: Poisson INGARCH and Negative Binomial INGARCH
    'Aaishah Radziah Jamaludin, Fadhilah Yusof, Suhartono
    MATEMATIKA, 2020;36(1):15-30.
    MyJurnal
    Johor Bahru with its rapid development where pollution is an issue that needs to be considered because it has contributed to the number of asthma cases in this area. Therefore, the goal of this study is to investigate the behaviour of asthma disease in Johor Bahru by count analysis approach namely; Poisson Integer Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (Poisson-INGARCH) and Negative Binomial INGARCH (NB-INGARCH) with identity and log link function. Intervention analysis was conducted since the outbreak in the asthma data for the period of July 2012 to July 2013. This occurs perhaps due to the extremely bad haze in Johor Bahru from Indonesian fires. The estimation of the parameter will be done by quasi-maximum likelihood estimation. Model assessment was evaluated from the Pearson residuals, cumulative periodogram, the probability integral transform (PIT) histogram, log-likelihood value, Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). Our result shows that NB-INGARCH with identity and log link function is adequate in representing the asthma data with uncorrelated Pearson residuals, higher in log likelihood, the PIT exhibits normality yet the lowest AIC and BIC. However, in terms of forecasting accuracy, NB-INGARCH with identity link function performed better with the smaller RMSE (8.54) for the sample data. Therefore, NB-INGARCH with identity link function can be applied as the prediction model for asthma disease in Johor Bahru. Ideally, this outcome can assist the Department of Health in executing counteractive action and early planning to curb asthma diseases in Johor Bahru.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  12. Fulltext A comparison of demographic parameters of Aedes albopictus (skuse) (diptera: culicidae) in dengue risk area at Shah Alam, Selangor
    Ibrahim Ahmed Alhothily, Nazri Che Dom, Siti Aekbal Salleh, Anila Ali
    Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2020;16(2):91-98.
    MyJurnal
    Introduction: Aedes albopictus is known for its aggressiveness towards human and recently expanded to more coun- tries outside the native regions. Thus, the demographic parameters of Aedes albopictus are important to determine the characteristics of this species mosquitoes in terms of the reproduction rates and dispersal distance. Materials and Methods: This study, was performed using a Shah Alam strain of Aedes albopictus originally collected in twenty district areas of the central zone of Shah Alam. This research applies field work-study with a cross-sectional design to investigate the demographic parameters of Aedes albopictus. The demographic evaluation of Aedes albopictus was conducted under the control environment in insectarium. Results: Investigation on the demographic parameters of Aedes albopictus clearly showed that there is a significance different observed in the total number of mosquito eggs produced in both high and low incidence rate IR areas (p=0.03). In contrast, other parameters showed insignificant value between high and low IR areas. Conclusion: The key to control the mosquito vectors population is by tracking the vector’s life cycle including its survival. Therefore, the outcome of this study may provide as a baseline to esti- mate the dengue outbreak in the current episystem.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  13. A Case of Severe Falciparum Malaria in a Returned Traveler
    Low QJ, Lau WK, Lim TH, Lee RA, Cheo SW
    Malays Fam Physician, 2020;15(3):86-89.
    PMID: 33329868
    Primary care providers should be alert to travel-related infections. Around 10-40% of returning travelers from all destinations and 15-70% of travelers from tropical settings experience ill health, either overseas or upon returning home.1 A systematic approach concentrating on possible infections should be undertaken based on the patient's travel location, immunization history, presence of malaria chemoprophylaxis at the destination, other potential exposures, incubation period, and clinical presentation.2-3 The World Health Organization (WHO) website is constantly being updated on specific travel-related infections and recent geographical outbreaks. In this paper, we report a case of severe falciparum malaria in a returned traveler.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  14. Fulltext COVID-19 outbreak and sectoral performance of the Australian stock market: An event study analysis
    Alam MM, Wei H, Wahid ANM
    Aust Econ Pap, 2020 Nov 27.
    PMID: 33349733 DOI: 10.1111/1467-8454.12215
    The outbreak of COVID-19 has weakened the economy of Australia and its capital market since early 2020. The overall stock market has declined. However, some sectors become highly vulnerable while others continue to perform well even in the crisis period. Given this new reality, we seek to investigate the initial volatility and the sectoral return. In this study, we analyse data for eight sectors such as, transportation, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, energy, food, real estate, telecommunications and technology of the Australian stock market. In doing so, we obtain data from Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and analysed them based on 'Event Study' method. Here, we use the 10-days window for the event of official announcement of the COVID-19 outbreak in Australia on 27 February 2020. The findings of the study show that on the day of announcement, the indices for food, pharmaceuticals and healthcare exhibit impressive positive returns. Following the announcement, the telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors exhibit good performance, while poor performance is demonstrated by the transportation industry. The findings are vital for investors, market participants, companies, private and public policymakers and governments to develop recovery action plans for vulnerable sectors and enable investors to regain their confidence to make better investment decisions.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  15. Fulltext Comparison of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice among Communities Living in Hotspot and Non-Hotspot Areas of Dengue in Selangor, Malaysia
    Ghani NA, Shohaimi S, Hee AK, Chee HY, Emmanuel O, Alaba Ajibola LS
    Trop Med Infect Dis, 2019 Feb 15;4(1).
    PMID: 30781369 DOI: 10.3390/tropicalmed4010037
    BACKGROUND: Dengue has affected more than one-third of the world population and Malaysia has recorded an increase in the number of dengue cases since 2012. Selangor state recorded the highest number of dengue cases in Malaysia. Most of the dengue infections occur among people living in hotspot areas of dengue. This study aims to compare Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice among communities living in hotspot and non-hotspot dengue areas.

    METHOD: Communities living in 20 hotspot and 20 non-hotspot areas in Selangor were chosen in this study where 406 participants were randomly selected to answer questionnaires distributed at their housing areas. Total marks of each categories were compared using t-test.

    RESULT: Results show that there were significant mean differences in marks in Knowledge (p value: 0.003; 15.41 vs. 14.55) and Attitude (p value: < 0.001; 11.41 vs. 10.33), but not Practice (p value 0.101; 10.83 vs. 10.47) categories between communities of non-hotspot and hotspot areas. After considering two confounding variables which are education level and household income, different mean marks are found to be significant in Knowledge when education level acts as a covariate and Attitude when both act as covariates.

    CONCLUSION: Overall results show that people living in non-hotspot areas had better knowledge and attitude than people living in hotspot areas, but no difference was found in practice. This suggests that public health education should be done more frequently with people with a low education background and low household income, especially in hotspot areas to fight dengue outbreak and make dengue cases decrease effectively.

    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  16. Fulltext Sane and safe: Forced social distancing to prevent human-to-human transmission of COVID-19
    Jahan F
    Malays Fam Physician, 2021 Mar 25;16(1):15-17.
    PMID: 33948138 DOI: 10.51866/rv0001
    The current outbreak of COVID-19, originating from the city of Wuhan in China and ultimately involving over 200 countries, is now a global concern. Evidence indicates that COVID-19 spread to humans from wild animals, causing severe respiratory tract infections in humans; the typical symptoms of COVID include cough, high-grade fever, sore throat, and difficulty in breathing. The infection spreads from human to human via droplets. Therefore, social or physical distancing can reduce spread within communities. Asymptomatic spread can also occur during family gatherings or in the workplace; thus, we must enforce physical distancing as much as possible to reduce the spread of cases.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  17. Fulltext Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus: a menace to the end game of polio eradication
    Ming LC, Hussain Z, Yeoh SF, Koh D, Lee KS
    Global Health, 2020 07 16;16(1):63.
    PMID: 32677974 DOI: 10.1186/s12992-020-00594-z
    The World Health Organisation Western Pacific Region countries were declared free of polio in 2000 until a polio outbreak involving 305 cases occurred in Indonesia in 2006. It was not until 2014 that the World Health Organisation South East Asia region was officially declared polio-free again. However, in February 2019, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative announced a new circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus outbreak in the Papua province of Indonesia. To make matter worse, the outbreak responses were tardy and led to transmission among migrating communities to other cities. The pressing regional issues of polio outbreak caused by circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus and use of oral polio vaccine have not been well presented. Our letter highlighted the suboptimal outbreak responses as well as the necessity of cross-border vaccination to curb continued poliovirus transmission.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  18. Fulltext Unravelling the myths of R0 in controlling the dynamics of COVID-19 outbreak: A modelling perspective
    Mohd MH, Sulayman F
    Chaos Solitons Fractals, 2020 Sep;138:109943.
    PMID: 32834577 DOI: 10.1016/j.chaos.2020.109943
    COVID-19 is an emerging and rapidly evolving pandemic around the world, which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome and results in substantial morbidity and mortality. To examine the transmission dynamics of COVID-19, we investigate the spread of this pandemic using Malaysia as a case study and scrutinise its interactions with some exogenous factors such as limited medical resources and false detection problems. To do this, we employ a simple epidemiological model and analyse this system using modelling and dynamical systems techniques. We discover some contrasting findings with respect to the observations of basic reproduction number: while it is observed that R0 seems to provide a good description of transmission dynamics in simple outbreak scenarios, this quantity might mislead the assessment on the severity of pandemic when certain complexities such as limited medical resources and false detection problems are incorporated into the model. In particular, we observe the possibility of a COVID-19 outbreak through bistable behaviour, even when the basic reproduction number is less than unity. Based on these findings, we caution policy makers not to make their decisions solely based on the guidance of the basic reproduction number only, which clearly could cause trouble.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  19. Fulltext Data on biology and demographic parameters of the Aedes albopictus from dengue outbreaks in Klang Valley, Malaysia
    Dom NC, Alhothily IA, Camalxaman SN, Ismail SNS
    Data Brief, 2020 Aug;31:105882.
    PMID: 32642511 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2020.105882
    In this article, data on the demographic parameters of the Aedes albopictus were collected from those areas in Shah Alam, Malaysia that had experienced a dengue outbreak. The surveys were conducted from March to December 2017. The eggs of the Ae. albopictus were collected using ovitraps, and were analysed based on the demographic parameters in a controlled environment in an insectarium. The data were comprised of four types of biological information on the life demographic parameters of the Ae. albopictus that were monitored based on specific localities. The data were inferred information regarding egg productivity (n), egg development (%), immature development (days), and survivorship (days).
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  20. Fulltext Investigation of a Dengue Outbreak in Ibu Pejabat Kontigen (IPK) Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, 2017
    Lim, Carol Kai Joo
    Borneo Journal of Medical Sciences, 2018;12(101):41-42.
    MyJurnal
    Dengue is a viral infection caused by four types of viruses (DENV-1, DENV- 2, DENV-3, DENV-4) and transmitted through the bite of infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus female mosquitoes that feed both indoors and outdoors during the daytime (from dawn to dusk). These mosquitoes thrive in areas with standing water, including puddles, water tanks, containers and old tyres. There were a total of 35 dengue outbreaks under PKK KK with four active outbreaks in the year 2017. One uncontrolled outbreak occurred at Ibu Pejabat Kontigen (IPK) Kota Kinabalu from 16 November 2017 to 21 December 2017.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
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