Kota Bharu school sees typhoid outbreak, 5 cases confirmed

Kelantan health department director Dr Zaini Hussin said the Kota Bharu health office had been conducting screening tests since June 20 on staff and students experiencing typhoid symptoms. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: The Kelantan health department has declared a typhoid outbreak at a school in Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

The New Straits Times reported that five students in a cluster of 22 suspected cases at the school were confirmed to have the disease.

According to the department’s director Dr Zaini Hussin, 16 of the other 17 students have been warded at Tumpat Hospital and Tengku Anis Hospital in Pasir Puteh, while one has sought outpatient treatment.

He said the students started to show symptoms on May 7, and the Kota Bharu health office had been conducting screening tests since June 20 on staff and students experiencing typhoid symptoms.

“Among the symptoms of typhoid are fever, diarrhoea, stomachache, vomiting, nausea, constipation, headache, fatigue and lack of appetite,” Bernama reported him as saying.

Typhoid is a contagious disease involving the infection of the digestive tract by salmonella typhi bacteria.

Zaini said the life-threatening infection spreads through several ways, including food or drink contaminated with faeces containing the bacteria due to poor sanitation or hygiene.

“Staff or students with symptoms of the disease are asked to immediately inform the school management to get an assessment,” he said.