Health Minister Chua Jui Meng would be sued for gross negligence in the way he handled the Nipah virus outbreak last year, a pig farmer told malaysiakini today.

According to him, a group of disgruntled pig farmers in Negri Sembilan's Bukit Pelanduk who had lost family members, livestock and properties during the deadly outbreak, are determined to seek the truth regarding the Nipah outbreak.

"It is only in court that the government can be forced to give us the true picture of the outbreak," said the pig farmer who requested anonymity.

He said the pig farmers are not only asking for the compensation for the lost of lives, but will ask for compensation to the farms and properties that were destroyed by the authorities during the culling process. He added that the farmers would pursue the legal action despite that the MCA controls some of their key organisations, such as the Negri Sembilan Livestock Farmers Association.

The farmers' previous attempts to draw attention to their plight have all ended in failure. During the recent general elections, some farmers had sought to place advertisements detailing their predicament in Chinese-language newspapers.

"The advertisements were refused by all the editors," lamented the farmer.

He said that while many of the pig farmers were willing to pay for the advertisements, the editors claimed they had been threatened by MCA leaders that their printing licence would be withdrawn should they accept the advertisements.

It was one year ago that a pig farmer in Sungai Nipah near Bukit Pelanduk succumbed to the so-called Japanese Encephalitis (JE) outbreak. The Bukit Pelanduk village, with 700 pig farms, was the largest pig-rearing community of its kind in Southeast Asia.

On learning of the death and being informed by health authorities that the virus was transmitted by mosquito, the 5,000 villagers began an intensive anti-JE operation, with fogging, mass vaccination drives and other safety measures including wearing long-sleeve shirts and long pants. Yet none of these efforts stopped the virus. One by one, the villagers began to suffer from fever, some collapsed and many sent to the hospital.

Between October 1998 and May 1999, Malaysian health authorities have recorded more than 258 cases of encephalitis, with at least 104 deaths. Thousands of pigs were shot dead in the bid to control the deadly outbreak. The rising death toll forced the villagers to abandon their homes for relative safety elsewhere.

Most of the 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.

Health Minister Chua has been singled out for blame by the farmers for initially insisting that the outbreak was caused by the JE virus, his slow response to the crisis, and the Ministry's gag order on the release of information regarding the outbreak.

Meanwhile, according to a lecturer in a local university, a few hospital workers were also found to show "positive antibody reactivity" against Nipah virus, but without any sign of infection.

"As far as I know, they have remained healthy. But it is important to attend follow-up clinics so that blood tests and examination by doctors can detect any change of health status among these 'healthy positive Nipah antibody reactors'," he said on the condition of anonymity.

In addition to these hospital workers, more than 200 people, mostly pig farmers, have tested positive for the Nipah virus. There is much confusion surrounding this disclosure, and the 200 are still unclear about the implications of testing positive. In addition, it is unclear exactly how many are Nipah carriers since most farmers are too afraid to be tested.

Many of these carriers are now living in fear of the future. Two weeks ago, a pig farmer from Selangor's Batu Satu who was infected by the virus last year, was confirmed to have died of Nipah.

However, the doctor added that it was not necessary to send foreign experts here to deal with the victims of Nipah.

"The whole world knows very little about the Nipah infection and its sequel. While foreign doctors use more sophisticated technology to study the Nipah patients, immediate care measures will be similar," he said.

He claimed that Malaysian doctors are not so backward as they, too, apply the latest knowledge and technology on the patients.

"Our problem is in the lack of clear Health Ministry policies on openness on matters concerning Nipah virus. If only the Ministry is more open and communicative, doctors and nurses can then discuss our knowledge concerning the virus to patients and the public more readily."