Geospatial-Based Model for Diagnosing Potential High-Risk Areas of Tuberculosis Disease in Malaysia

Malaysia has a medium burden of tuberculosis (TB) incidence based on World Health Organization (WHO) indicator, but the current trend of TB cases is generally alarming. The Ministry of Health (MOH), Malaysia has set up several guidelines to control the disease, however, the national TB technical report in 2015 addressed that existing detection methods of TB on the site still need to be integrated with relevant alternatives. A geospatial based model is proposed to identify potential high-risk areas of TB especially for targeting missing cases and undiagnosed people. The model was developed with three core stages; framework construction, data collection, and risk analysis and modelling. Eight risk factors: urbanisation, distance to factory, socio-economic status (SES), risk group, human mobility, house type, distance to healthcare centres, and number of population were utilised to determine risk rate of TB modelling. This innovative model has successfully estimated a 65 % of potential high-risk TB areas and targeted 106 high-risk localities in the 10 risk sections of the study area. These risk localities have general similarities with other endemic areas worldwide, but there are some interesting findings revealed in this local study towards in the TB control programme. Most of these cases did not only occur in high rise housing areas, but they are concentrated at industrial location, mobility pattern and socio-economic status in urban city. Although, urban areas are favoured area for the local TB, the disease could also potentially occur in semi-urban or rural areas

Sistem maklumat penyakit tuberkulosis berasaskan geospatial untuk mengurus penyakit bawaan udara / Abdul Rauf Abdul Rasam … [et al.]

Sistem maklumat kesihatan yang inovatif boleh menyokong kawalan jangkitan penyakit batuk kering atau tuberkulosis (TB). Sungguhpun sistem sedia ada, MyTB telah banyak membantu dalam mengurus dan membuat keputusan maklumat penyakit berjangkit di Malaysia, namunfungsi sistem ini masih boleh ditingkatkan dengan membangunkan Sistem Maklumat Penyakit Tuberkulosis Berasaskan Geospatial (GeoTBiS). GeoTBis adalah sistem sokongan keputusan yang telah dibangunkan secara geospatial di Shah Alam, Selangor. Data geospatial ini mempunyai ciri-ciri yang unik seperti mempunyai maklumat spatio-temporal yang boleh digunakan untuk memahami elemen asas penyakit TB melalui tempat, masa dan manusia, manakala fungsi geospatial ini berguna untuk mengumpul, mengurus, menganalisis dan menyebarkan maklumat penyakit dalam persekitaran sistem maklumat geografi (GIS). Pemetaan penyakit dan analisis faktor risiko dihasilkan dengan bantuan sistem kedudukan sejagat (GPS), imej satelit, pemodelan spatial dan pemetaan secara web. GeoTBis telah menunjukkan kemampuannya untuk meningkatkan elemen dan fungsi sistem MyTB. Beberapa cadanganjuga telah diambilkira untuk mempertingkatkan aplikasi GeoTBiS ke tahap yang lebih bersepadu dan meluas

Concentrated specimen smear microscopy utilising a polymer membrane sandwich filtration vessel for the detection of acid-fast bacilli in health facilities in Sabah, East Malaysia

A simple, ready-to-use concentrated specimen smear microscopy method employing a nanometer silicon polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer membrane sandwich filtration vessel to concentrate acid-fast bacilli (AFB) in samples (SFV-CSSM, Hunan-Tech New Medical System Co. Ltd. China) was compared with direct sputum smear microscopy (DSSM) to determine its performance using culture on modified Ogawa agar as reference. The results for 4114 clinical samples collected from health facilities in Sabah were interpreted with reference to culture results, sample collection-transportation conditions and clinical data including responses to anti-TB drug treatment. The SFV-CSSM showed higher sensitivity than DSSM (79.4% versus 60.5%) and less background interference. Its ability to detect low levels of AFB at an affordable cost makes it an excellent tool for the screening of pauci-bacillary samples as well as for active case finding in TB control programs

Factors of food premises not attaining "A" grading in Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Introduction: Up to 70% of the food-water related illness is related to food services hygiene and safety standard. An important and crucial enforcement operation conducted by this division is the inspection of premises and food sampling. This is of paramount importance as food premise grading is directly related to consumers’ health and safety which is in line with the third United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goal of good health and wellbeing. Aim: This study aims to identify the components and factors that are commonly related with food premises that do not obtain an “A” grading. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2017 among 315 food premises in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah that were under the jurisdiction of The Kota Kinabalu City Hall. Data from the food premise inspection forms were reviewed and analysed via multivariate analysis. Results: Premises that were non-compliant with health checks on all food handlers (OR 36.72, 95% CI 10.00-135.44), poor condition of the toilets (OR 6.96, 95% CL 2.35-20.63), ineffective fly control (OR 10.35, 95% CI 1.91-56.02), no availability of garbage cans (OR 3.01, 95% CI 1.01-9.01) and no separate storage for food items and chemical (OR 3.11, 95% 1.06-9.07) were significantly associated with not obtaining “A” grading. Conclusion: More focus and attention need to be paid to these factors not only for premises to attain “A” grading but also to improve the safety and hygiene of food that is consumed by the public