Malaysia

00000000In Malaysia, A. aegypti was found in Port Swettenham in the early 1900s, but was not found inland. Dengue fever was first recognized in Malaysia in 1902(22) but DHF was first reported only in 1962(23). The disease was made notifiable by law in 1971. In March 1954, an outbreak of febrile illness was reported in a girl's school in Kuala Lumpur from which the first dengue virus was isolated in Malaysia and identified as DEN-1.

00000000All the four dengue serotypes are endemic in Malaysia(23,24). Outbreaks of dengue have been reported mainly from the more developed and populated states of peninsular Malaysia. A major outbreak occurred in 1973 with 969 cases. During this outbreak a case fatality rate of 5.6 per cent was recorded(25). Most of the confirmed cases were in the younger age group i.e. 54 per cent were under ten years. During the following year, the situation worsened when 2200 cases with 104 deaths were reported. From 1973 - 1985 (Table 8), the number of DF/DHF cases averaged 740 a year. These reported figures are on the low side as many cases do not get reported to the Ministry of Health. The mortality rate declined slowly over a period of 12 years, from a high DHF case fatality rate of 9.53 per cent in 1975 to 3.3 per cent in 1984, and from an overall DF/DHF case fatality rate of 4.94 per cent in 1975 to 0.7 per cent in 1984. Although only 354 cases of DF/DHF were reported in 1985, there were 11 deaths among the 112 DHF cases, giving a case fatality rate of 9.8 per cent. This is a disturbing trend in the clinical manifestation of the disease in the country.

Table 8. Incidence of reported dengue cases and deaths in Malaysia, 1973 - 1987 (Figures in parentheses denote deaths)

Source: Ministry of Health, Malaysia