A survey was carried out at the Pasoh Forest Reserve from 13–19 December, 2007 and 20–24 January, 2008, to inventory the herpetofauna contained therein. A total of 23 species of reptiles and amphibians were collected during this survey, five of which have not previously been recorded in the Pasoh Forest Reserve. An updated checklist which incorporates findings from previous studies is presented.
The occurrence of major outbreaks of dengue, and other vector borne diseases such as chikungunya and zika in tropical and subtropical regions has rendered control of the diseases a top-priority for many affected countries including Malaysia. Control of the mosquito vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus through the reduction of breeding sites and the application of insecticides to kill immature forms and adults are the main control efforts to combat these diseases. The present study describes the association between Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti in shared breeding sites. This study is important given that any measure taken against one species may affect the other. A yearlong larval survey was conducted in four dengue endemic areas of Penang Island. Sorenson's coefficient index indicated that no association between number of the immatures of the two species regardless of container size and study location. Therefore, the mean number Ae. albopictus immature was not decreased in the presence of Ae. aegypti in shared breeding container. However Ae. aegypti appeared to prefer breeding in habitats not occupied by Ae. albopictus, the two species sharing breeding sites only where available containers were limited. In control efforts, eliminating the preferred breeding containers for one species might not affect or reduce the population of the other species.
Burkholderia pseudomallei is a soil-dwelling bacterium that causes a globally emerging disease called melioidosis. Approximately one third of the in silico annotated genes in its genome are classified as hypothetical genes. This group of genes is difficult to be functionally characterised partly due to the absence of noticeable phenotypes under conventional laboratory settings. A bioinformatic survey of hypothetical genes revealed a gene designated as BPSL3393 that putatively encodes a small protein of 11 kDA with a CoA binding domain. BPSL3393 is conserved in all the B. pseudomallei genomes as well as various in other species within the genus Burkholderia. Taking into consideration that CoA plays a ubiquitous metabolic role in all life forms, characterisation of BPSL3393 may uncover a previously over-looked metabolic feature of B. pseudomallei. The gene was deleted from the genome using a double homologous recombination approach yielding a null mutant. The BPSL3393 mutant showed no difference in growth rate with the wild type under rich and minimal growth conditions. An extensive metabolic phenotyping test was performed involving 95 metabolic substrates. The deletion mutant of BPSL3393 was severely impaired in its ethanolamine metabolism. The growth rate of the mutant was attenuated when ethanolamine was used as the sole carbon source. A transcriptional analysis of the ethanolamine metabolism genes showed that they were down-regulated in the BPSL3393 mutant. This seemed to suggest that BPSL3393 functions as a positive regulator for ethanolamine metabolism.
The population of bats has declined from year to year caused by human activities such as logging and hunting activities. Since the human factor is linked to the issues of population decline in many animal species, a community-based conservation strategy that involved local communities is needed. We conducted face-to-face surveys among residents in Penang Island to assess knowledge and awareness level toward bats conservation efforts. We collected demographic values such as age, gender, level of education, length of residency as well as their monthly income, since different group in these variable might have different perception. We found that age groups, level of education and monthly income have shown significant differences among the respondents. However, no other significant differences were indicated for by gender and length of residency. Respondent's knowledge of bats showed that the majority of the respondents were less likely to value the importance of bats in the ecosystem. We recommended stronger legal system, earlier exposure towards environmental education, well-planned urbanisation implementation and long-term monitoring programs to strengthen efforts in conserving bats in Malaysia.
The nesting of green turtle (Chelonia mydas) was monitored from 1998 untill 2013 along the beaches of Pasir Panjang, Segari, Perak. The objective of the study is to assess the nesting status of green turtles in Perak, Peninsular Malaysia in terms of total nests, eggs, survival hatchings, and density of visitors. A total number of green turtle nests found for 16 years were 1,019 nests and varied from 10 to 220 nests per year. Meanwhile, the sum of eggs collected for 16 years were 107,820 eggs, and varied from 553 to 20,881 eggs per year. The temporal pattern of nesting indicates year-round nesting in Perak in most years within the 16 years period. The peak season of nesting was estimated to occur between May and June. Survival hatchlings varied from 23.33% (2,071 hatchlings) to 55.03% (5,018 hatchlings) from 1998 to 2013. The density of visitors was not uniformly distributed among the years, and shows a sign of decline especially from 2006 onwards. This publication provides basic knowledge of green turtle nesting population in Perak, and would be helpful in upgrading the conservation program in Malaysia. In future, we hope 1) for an increase in manpower to obtain accurate nesting records along the nesting beaches during nocturnal survey and, 2) to include the breeding biology data such as nest placement, emergence hour, and morphological characteristics of green turtle.
A survey on termite species composition was conducted in Samunsam Wildlife Sanctuary, Sarawak in February 2015. Overall 19 species of termite belonging to 13 genera and 8 subfamilies was found in the sanctuary. It was recorded the subfamily of Termitinae had the highest number of species (6 species, equal to 31.58% of total species), followed by Nasutermitinae (3 species, 15.79%), Macrotermitinae, Amitermitinae, Rhinotermitinae, Coptotermitinae, (2 species, 10.53% respectively), and Heterotermitinae, Termitogetoninae (1 species, 5.26% respectively). Since this rapid survey is the first termite assemblage representation in Samunsam Wildlife Sanctuary, the preliminary result may serve as the baseline data for termite composition in the area. Therefore, a whole coverage for the area within this sanctuary would definitely increase the number of termite species found in the sanctuary.
A survey was conducted to determine the diversity of fish in Pergau Lake, Jeli, Kelantan, Malaysia from 2 September to 18 October of 2016. Fish samples were collected at seven random sampling stations around the lake by using setting trap method. The collected samples were preserved in 10% formalin solution and delivered to the laboratory for further identification process. Fourteen species, namely as Hemibagrus nemurus, Hampala macrolepidota, Clarias batrachus, Channa striata, Cyprinus carpio, Poropuntius smedleyi, Pangasius sp., Oreochromis niloticus, Oreochromis mossambicus, Leptobarbus hoevenii, Neolissochilus hexagonolepis, Tor tambroides, Osteochilus hasselti and Neolissochilus soroides, comprising of six families were collected during this study. From this study, family of Cyprinidae was the dominant species in Pergau Lake with exactly 50% of catch percentage, followed by family of Bagridae (29%), Cichlidae (10%), Clariidae (5%), Channidae (3%) and Pangasiidae (3%). This study shows that there is still a diversity of fish species in Pergau Lake, showing that the water and its environmental condition is very good.
Fusarium wilt disease is one of the most problematic and destructive disease in cucumber production. The causative agents are Fusarium oxysporum and F. solani. These pathogens are soil borne and transmitted through infested soil and water. A field survey was conducted to study the disease prevalence in the major growing areas of cucumber in Peninsular Malaysia. Field study revealed that the disease was highly prevalence in the field with the disease incidence was in the range of 10%-60%. The morphological properties of F. oxysporum are microconidia (3.8-15.7 μm × 2.9-4.9 μm), macroconidia (14.8-38.5 μm × 2.4-5.7 μm) and number of septate was 1-4. While for F. solani are microconidia (3.39-14.63 μm × 2.36-4.44 μm), macroconidia (7.22-50.46 μm × 2.43-6.14 μm) and number of septate was 1-5. Based on molecular identification had confirmed that the disease is caused by F. oxysporum and F. solani with similarity index of 99%-100% based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene sequences. The pathogenicity test showed that the symptoms of Fusarium wilt disease was firstly appeared as yellowing of old leaves. Progressively, the infected plant will be wilted and finally died. The outputs of this study are highly important to establish an effective disease management programme to reduce disease prevalence and yield loss in the field.
Basal stem rot (BSR) is a devastating disease to Malaysian oil palm. Current techniques employed for BSR disease detection on oil palm are laborious, time consuming, costly, and subjected to accuracy limitations. An ergosterol detection method was developed, whereby it correlated well with the degree of infection in oil palm. This current study was designed to study the relationship between Ganoderma biomass, ergosterol concentration, BSR disease progress and to validate the efficiency of microwave assisted extraction (MAE) method for extraction of ergosterol compound. In addition, testing on the sensitivity of thin layer chromatography (TLC) analysis for detection of ergosterol was also the aim of this study. The optimised procedure involved extracting a small amount of Ganoderma-infected oil palm root tissues suspended in low volumes of solvent followed by irradiation in a conventional microwave oven at 70°C and medium high power for 30 s, resulting in simultaneous extraction and saponification. Based on the results obtained, MAE method may be effective in extracting low to high yields of ergosterol from infected oil palm roots demonstrating disease scale 2, 3 and 4. Positive relationship was observed between ergosterol content and inoculation period starting day 3 in the inoculated oil palm seedlings and hour 6 in germinated seeds. TLC analysis demonstrated a good correlation with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) quantification. Therefore, a semi-quantitative TLC analysis may be applied for handling a large amount of samples during onset field survey.
Intestinal parasitic infections are among the most common diseases affecting mankind causing major public health problems to billions of people living in developing countries. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasites in various communities residing in different habitats in Malaysia and compare the findings with 101 studies conducted over the past 42 years (1970-2013). A cross-sectional study design was conducted with the aid of a questionnaire to collect relevant information about the study population. Faecal samples were examined using the direct smear and formal ether sedimentation techniques. A total of 342 children were examined amongst whom 24.6% were positive for intestinal parasitic infections. Results showed that 32.3% of rural children, 20.6% of urban squatters and 5.4% of children from flats were positive for one or more parasites. The most common parasite encountered was Trichuris trichiura (20.2%) followed by Ascaris lumbricoides (10.5%) and hookworm (6.7%). No case of hookworm was reported in urban children whereas 12.2% of rural children were positive. The most common protozoan parasite detected was Entamoeba coli (3.2%) followed by Giardia intestinalis (1.8%), Entamoeba histolytica (1.8%) and Blastocystis hominis (1.2%). Nearly one-fifth (18.4%) of the children had single infection followed by double (12.0%) and triple infections (1.2%). Orang Asli (indigenous) children (44.3%) had the highest infection rate followed by Indians (20.2%), Malays (14.0%) and Chinese (11.9%). Twenty-eight studies carried out on plantation communities with regards to intestinal parasitic infections in Malaysia from 1970 to 2013 showed a steady decline in the prevalence rate ranging from 95.0% in the seventies to 37.0 % in 2012. Intestinal parasitic infections were more common in Orang Asli communities with prevalence ranging from over 90% in the seventies and fluctuating below 70% in most studies between 2000 to 2013 except for two studies that showed a prevalence of 98.2% and 100%. The prevalence rate among urban squatters, urban residents and those living in flats showed dramatic decrease in prevalence rate.
Malaria remains a major public health problem causing mortality and morbidity in tropical and subtropical countries. A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine malaria prevalence and its clinical pattern during malaria season in Yemen. Blood samples were collected from 511 patients with fever who voluntary participated in this study, of them 268 were males and 242 females. Malaria was screened using Giemsa-stained thick and thin blood films. Clinical profile was recorded through physical and laboratory examinations and biodata were collected by pre-tested standard questionnaire. The overall prevalence was 15.3%. Three malaria species (Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium malarae) were detected with the predominance of P. falciparum (83.33%). People living in the rural areas had higher infection rate compared to urban areas (p < 0.005). Children were at higher risk of developing severe malaria compared to adults (p < 0.05). Severe anaemia, respiratory distress, jaundice, convulsion and bleeding were more apparent among younger age groups of malaria cases compared to older children. The study indicates that malaria is still a public health problem with children being at high risk of developing severe malaria which may lead to death.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among form four students of secondary schools in the District of Petaling, Selangor, Malaysia from February 2008 to June 2008 with the aim of quantifying the prevalence of smoking and identifying the psychosocial factors related to smoking among adolescents in this district. A two-stage stratified sampling strategy was used to obtain a sample of 1300 students based on an estimated prevalence of 10%. The response rate was 80.5% (1045 out of 1298 students). Results showed that prevalence of smoking was higher among male students (22.3%) compared to females (5.5%) and the median age at smoking initiation was lower among males compared to female smokers (14 years old vs 15 years old). Modifiable risk factors associated with smoking were "percentage of friends who smoke" (OR 2.94, 95% CI [1.71- 5.06]) and "having a brother who smokes" (OR 1.97, 95% CI [1.20-3.31]). There was also a correlation between smoking prevalence and the number of risk factors present. Intensification of health education and anti-smoking programmes and modification of external factors in early adolescence are recommended to prevent smoking initiation.
This study aims to determine the level of knowledge and to understand their attitude towards smoking and secondly to determine how sociodemographic background, smoking status and knowledge on the health risks of smoking contribute toward the development of such attitude. A total of 10,545 respondents age 18 years and above across Malaysia were interviewed. Results indicated that level of knowledge and attitude varied by gender, education level, smoking status, age, ethnicity and smoker category. Smokers' low education, poor knowledge on the dangers of smoking and being males had more positive or greater impact on their attitudes towards smoking. Formulation and implementation of a holistic programme aimed at increasing knowledge and attitude change that accounts for sociodemographic background of the population is recommended in order to bring down smoking rates and thus reduce smoking related health problems in this country.
This paper reports the occurrence of helminth and protozoan infections on small ruminants from eight farms situated in Kinta and Perak Tengah district, Perak. The results of this survey indicate that helminthiasis and coccidiosis is rampant in sheep and goat farms. Several anthelmintics have been used for the control of helminths. The smallholders depended on health and extention services from the State Veterinary Department. This survey is part of an ongoing programme by the Department of Veterinary Services to upgrade services and report the current status of parasitic diseases in the state.
The Students' Resilience and Interpersonal Skills Development Education (STRIDE) is a preventive drug education programme. The rational of this programme is that preventive drug education has to begin early in age, before the development of social attitudes and behaviour of students. A pre and a post intervention surveys were performed to evaluate the impact of this programme. Nine schools from three states were identified to participate in the intervention. These schools were selected based on their locations in high-drug-use areas (where the prevalence of drug use exceeds 0.5% of the student population). The new intervention curriculum was put into practice for three months in the nine schools. The overall scores obtained by each respondent to assess their knowledge on drugs and its implications were analysed. The results showed that the programme made a positive impact from the pre to post intervention programme by using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test (p < 0.05). A high percentage of the questions showed significant evidence through the McNemar matched pair Chi-Squared test with Bonferonni correction that there were positive shifts in the answers by comparing the pre and post intervention results (p < 0.05). Recommendations have been discussed with the Ministry of Education to integrate this programme into the national primary school curriculum.
Indoor fungal reservoirs, particularly airborne Penicillium species, were identified throughout the ventilation system of the building and dissemination of fungi from those reservoirs was found to be occurring all the time. The objectives of this study were to determine the association between air concentration of indoor mould (Penicillium) and allergy symptoms among office workers. The study design used in this research was a cross-sectional study. Risk factors were identified through the questionnaire survey. Office workers were selected based on the proximity of their workstations to the microbiological air sampler used for the mould sampling. Results from the current study suggests that individual susceptibility of exposed subjects might be influenced by several factors associated with mould exposure; for example, inhaled mycotoxins or volatile organic compounds, which may, in some complex way, affect the immune response. This study provides the much needed preliminary baseline data for developing guidelines with validated findings that will be of use for policy decisions in Malaysia regarding indoor air quality. Results from this study are recommended for use in planning and implementing control measures in order to reduce the exposure to indoor mould and promote healthy working environment among the workers.
This paper reviews the literature on human leptospirosis in Malaysia from its first description in 1925 until the present day. Fletcher diagnosed the first case of human leptospirosis in Malaysia in 1925. Following Fletcher, many investigations on human leptospirosis in Malaysia disclosed a high prevalence of infection. These investigations indicated that the disease was endemic in the country. Examination of 1993 suspected human cases of leptospirosis by Tan indicated 28 % of the cases were positive. In a recent survey, 2190 serum samples from patients with different clinical manifestations in the country disclosed 12.6% were positive for antibodies to leptospires. The risk to leptospiral infection with respect to occupation, location, sex, race and age groups was demonstrated. Both civilians and military personnel were affected. Thirty-seven serovars from thirteen serogroups have been identified in the country. Recent studies on animal leptospirosis showed that the disease was highly endemic in the animal population. It is considered that the majority of leptospirosis cases in humans were due to association of man with animals and disease-infected environment.
A survey was carried out to determine the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies among cattle farmers and cattle in the Gombak District, Selangor. A total of 79 human and 73 cattle serum samples were tested for Toxoplasma gondii antibodies by the immunofluorescent technique (IFAT). Results of the survey showed that anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies were found in 27.8% of the farmers, while in cattle the positive rate was only 3.8%. The prevalence rate obtained in this study did not differ much from the prevalence reported in previous studies. This suggests that the same degree of risk to this infection exists in the community. In view of the relatively low antibody prevalence in cattle, the risk of acquiring this infection from consuming undercooked beef is realtively low. Further survey on larger sample size is needed to validate the observation.
Chloroquine resistance transporter of Plasmodium falciparum (PfCRT) is a food vacuolar transmembrane protein that mediates susceptibility of the parasite to chloroquine. A mutation at K76T of the Pfcrt gene is a key determinant for chloroquine resistance phenotype. In the absence of drug pressure, in vitro growth rate of chloroquine-resistance parasites was outcompeted by wild-type parasites unless intragenic compensatory mutations occurred. Chloroquine-resistant P. falciparum bearing the Cam734 haplotype known to circulate in endemic areas of Cambodia bordering Thailand contains 9 mutations in Pfcrt and exhibits both chloroquine resistance and comparable growth rate to the chloroquine-sensitive 3D7 strain. To analyze the evolution of the Cam734 haplotype, codon-based analysis was performed by using the mixed effects model of evolution (MEME), branch-site random effects likelihood (BR-REL) and other related methods. Results revealed that the Cam734 haplotype has evolved distinctively from other known mutant haplotypes including the most common Dd2 haplotype in Southeast Asia. Evidence of episodic positive selection was detected at codon 144, characterized by c.[430G>T; 431C>T] (p.A144F), known to be indispensable for both chloroquine resistance and restoration of growth rate of the parasites. To survey the prevalence of mutations at codons 76 and 144 in Pfcrt among Thai isolates, restriction fragment analysis of 548 P. falciparum isolates collected from six endemic provinces of Thailand during 1991 and 2016 was performed. The 144F Pfcrt mutant was detected in 7 (1.28%) isolates. All Thai isolates analyzed herein harbored a mutation at codon 76 whilst the wild-type parasite was not found. The low prevalence of isolates bearing the mutation 144F in PfCRT could imply little or lack of survival advantage of this mutant in endemic areas of Thailand where the wild-type parasites seem to be absent or extremely rare.
The extent of the economic burden of malaria and its imposed mechanisms are both relevant to public policy. This paper investigates the economic burden of malaria and household behaviour in relation to the treatment and prevention of the illness in Pakistan. In this regard, data were collected from a randomly selected sample of 360 households using structured questionnaires. The survey results indicate that 23.4% of household members contracted malaria during the three-month reference period. The average per person cost of malaria is estimated at 3116 Pakistani rupees (PKR) (USD 32). The estimated cost of the illness was found to be equivalent to, on average, 6.7% of monthly household income. Although high-income households face a higher financial burden due to better preventive and mitigation measures, the negative consequences hit low-income households harder due to liquidity constraints and poor access to effective treatment. We recommend that malaria control policies be integrated into development and poverty reduction programs.