A pig farmer from Selangor's Sepang Batu Satu, who was hospitalised for over two months during the Nipah outbreak last year, died on Thursday. He was suspected to have died from the Nipah virus, but this has yet been confirmed by the Ministry of Health.

Tong Hang Hoo, 51, was sent to Seremban Hospital on Dec 22 and passed away at 8.30pm five days ago. According to elder brother Tong Hang Heong, the death certificate stated the reason for his death as "encephalitis", without specifying whether it was Japanese Encephalitis (JE) or the new Nipah virus.

News of his death has shocked many pig farmers, especially those who had earlier been discharged from the hospital and had tested positive of Nipah virus in their blood.

According to Negeri Sembilan Nipah Virus Committee chairman Lay Yong Tee, about 200 Bukit Pelanduk residents had tested positive of the Nipah virus.

However, he said the authority had not informed them on whether they were positive carrier or positive antigen of the virus. A positive carrier is expected to continue to suffer from the disease while a positive antigen has developed a natural immunity despite having the Nipah virus.

Lay told malaysiakini that a majority of the pig farmers and the pigs-related industry workers were afraid to undertake blood test, and as such the true picture of the disease is not known.

From October 1998 to May 1999, Malaysian health authorities have recorded more than 258 cases of encephalitis, with at least 104 deaths. Most of deaths were first attributed to JE by the Ministry of Health, but it was later found to be caused by a new strain similar to the Hendra virus, named Nipah, after the village where the virus was first identified.

Tham was hospitalised on April 4 last year after he fainted at the height of the Nipah outbreak. He was discharged from the hospital on June 11.

Eue Kong Loon, Secretary of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur Livestock Farmers Association lamented that the government had yet to reveal the full report on the Nipah outbreak. "We are still unsure of how the (Nipah) virus is transmitted," he said.

According to Lay, the disease had become more serious in some of the patients as they were under tremendous financial strains as most are jobless and in debt. He said that a number of the victims had been sued by pig food factories for not paying their debts.