THE Health Ministry has yet to determine the cause of death of 12 Orang Asli whose bodies were collected from Kg Kuala Koh in Gua Musang, said its minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

He said the results of the autopsy and other tests have yet to be released.

“We can’t confirm (if it’s measles) as the results are not out yet.

“But, we can confirm that for the other autopsy we did, it was measles,” he said at the Health Ministry today.

As of June 16, the bodies of 12 Bateq tribesmen were retrieved from Kg Kuala Koh and taken to Gua Musang Hospital for post morterm.

As many as 15 villagers had died from a seemingly mysterious disease early this year.

Dr Dzulkefly said the post mortem they conducted on the first two victims had initially showed that the Orang Asli died of pneumonia, as measles was not confirmed.

“But after the second post mortem and all the other cases, we can confirm it was definitely measles.”

He said the situation in Kg Kuala Koh is under control and that in response to the outbreak, the district health department will hold a measles immunisation programme for the Bateq and other nearby communities.

“The health department of Kelantan have detected a total of 113 cases related to respiratory issues in Kg Kuala Koh and since then, no new cases or deaths have been reported,” he said. 

On whether the problem has been effectively contained, he said the illness will usually have run its course in two weeks but repeated that vaccination was vital. – June 20, 2019.