SIBURAN: Health surveys conducted by the Sarawak Infectious Disease Centre (SIDC) have detected a number of latent tuberculosis (TB) cases in several districts across the state.
Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister, Datuk Seri Roland Sagah Wee Inn, said the preliminary findings were obtained from surveys carried out in Bau, Padawan and Sri Aman.
He said the surveys aim to identify diseases affecting communities in Sarawak and will be expanded to other areas including Kapit, Miri and Sibu.
“From the preliminary tests that we have done, we caught quite a lot of people with latent TB. Recently we see that TB is quite a serious thing, especially for Sarawak.
“Early detection would allow treatment to be given at an early stage before the disease becomes active,” he told reporters after officiating at ‘Gift of STEM Education: STEM Equipment Handover’ at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) St Elizabeth here today.
Sagah added that Sarawak is also expanding research and screening efforts to strengthen its understanding of infectious diseases affecting the population.
As part of this effort, he said the state government is sending Sarawakian graduates to pursue PhD studies at Murdoch University in Australia under collaboration with the Australian government.
He said the programme allows researchers to take part in studies on infectious diseases, including vaccine development and rabies research.
“For rabies, there is still no vaccine available. Through the SIDC, we are trying to develop vaccines together with Murdoch University.
“Murdoch University is currently conducting rabies research in Indonesia, so we hope to benefit from that as well.
“But of course, the research is not limited to rabies. It also covers other diseases, including COVID-19,” he said.
Additionally, he said that the surveys also include screening programmes for women to enable early detection of cancer.
