Parents in areas where there have been reports of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) cases must not to be unduly worried and should follow instructions by the Health Department, said the The Kelantan Education Department.

Its acting director Ismail Mohd Nor said authorities are monitoring the situation closely and would act accordingly if it was true that JE had indeed surfaced in the areas concerned.

"So far, there has been no confirmation by the Kelantan Health Department that a secondary school student from Gual Ipoh in Tanah Merah had died of JE," he told Bernama today.

The department was identifying affected students and urged parents and students to be alert and give priority to hygiene, he said when asked to comment on the death of Siti Mardiana Mohd Ramli, 13, a Form One student of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Gual Ipoh, Tanah Merah, who died last week of suspected JE.

For the past week, Kelantan has been shaken by news of a JE outbreak following the deaths of Siti Mardiana on Jan 26 and Hasnira Akmal Hussin, 13, on Tuesday, both of whom died of JE-like symptoms but have not been confirmed.

So far, only one woman, Norhayati Awang, 27, who is in a stable condition at the Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital here, has been confirmed to have contracted JE.

Her father and sister, who have also been admitted in the High Dependency Ward at the same hospital, have not been confirmed if they have the virus.

Hasnira was a student at Sekolah Menengah Agama Terenang, Gual Ipoh, in Tanah Merah.

Medical checks

In a related development, Pahang residents who went to Kelantan for the Chinese New Year holidays are advised to go for medical checks at nearby hospitals immediately upon their return.

Pahang Health Director Dr Hassan Abdul Rahman said such a measure was necessary, especially for those having symptoms of infectious diseases like JE.

It was important to have early check ups because the disease required immediate treatment, he said, adding that the department had not received any report of JE in Pahang.

Meanwhile, Bernama also reported that the operation to hunt down wild boars in Tanah Merah to get their blood samples for testing to determine whether they carry the JE virus has not been successful yet.

Kelantan Veterinary Services Director Dr Idris Kadir said the operation is being focused on high-risk areas like Kampung Batang Bergedik and Kampung Air Karilla.

So far, blood samples from six horses, 24 heads of cattle and 10 goats have been taken for testing and another 40 samples would be retrieved from the animals on Saturday.