All 181 blood samples taken from 20 pig farms in Kampung Selamat, Penang were found to be negative for the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) disease.

Veterinary Services director-general Dr Azmie Zakaria said the department would continue investigating the disease and collecting blood samples from other livestock.

“The surveillance activities have also been expanded to cover other pig farms in the whole state of Penang and other states in the peninsula,” he said in a statement in Putrajaya today.

     

The Veterinary Services Department has conducted surveillance and sampling of livestock farms within a one-kilometre radius from the Sekolah Kebangsaan Kg Selamat.

The sampling was conducted on July 1 and 181 blood samples were taken from the pig farms.

Samples of pig blood were taken after a Year Six pupil of the Sekolah Kebangsaan Kampung Selamat in Tasek Gelugor, Pulau Pinang, Muhammad Ammar Muqrish Zulkiffli fell into a coma, suspected to have been infected with the JE virus and was hospitalised for a month.

Dr Azmie said the farms were advised to tighten biosecurity control on the farm and improve environmental cleanliness as well as ensure proper drainage to eradicate mosquito breeding.

- Bernama