Poor Case Management Fueling Spread of TB in Malaysia, Health Official Says

Poor management of tuberculosis in Malaysia is fueling the spread of the disease in the country, Ismail Merican, director-general of health, said Thursday at the opening of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease's 1st Asia Pacific Region Conference 2007 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the New Straits Times reports.

According to Merican, delays in TB diagnosis and a lack of standardized treatment for the disease are increasing costs and the risk of developing multi-drug resistant forms of the disease. Merican also stressed the importance of adherence to TB treatment regimens. TB treatment success rates are higher at Malaysia's public hospitals than private hospitals, which handle about 5.5% of TB cases, Merican said, adding that private facilities should adopt the DOTS strategy to stem the spread of the disease. "The quality of diagnosis and treatment, in general, is not the same, and this is of concern to us," Merican said.

Merican added that the Ministry of Health is working to reduce by half the number of TB cases and deaths by 2010. Malaysia last year registered a total of 16,665 TB cases and 1,500 deaths associated with the disease, the Straits Times reports. TB incidence in the country is 62.5 cases per 100,000 people. Malaysian Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis President Datuk Seri Yeop Adlan said that TB is one of the leading causes of death in the country in large part because of immigration from Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines (New Straits Times, 8/3).