New findings on a close relationship between urbanization and malaria in Kuala Lumpur

Photo credit: Dr Zulkarnain Md Idris

Earlier studies have shown that the rise of new modern cities creates potential risks and challenges in the aspects of malaria importation. A new retrospective study involving researchers at the Department of Parasitology and Medical Entomology (JPEP) and five medical students from the Faculty of Medicine UKM has now made a new finding on relationship between urbanization and malaria in Kuala Lumpur from 2005 to 2017. The results of their study were recently published in Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease.

We asked Dr Zulkarnain Md Idris, corresponding author of the study to elucidate some of the key points of the study.

“We believe this study represents an important step forward in the field of malaria epidemiology in the country, particularly in the urbanized settings. Over a period of 13 years, our analyses revealed that overall malaria incidence in urban Kuala Lumpur is low and has remained stable since 2005. However, malaria cases in Kuala Lumpur were more common among males, young adults and non-Malaysians, characteristics typical in migrant workers. Our university hospital received 49% confirmed malaria cases from foreigners over the period of 13 years of which 88% were males and 57% from neighbouring Southeast Asia countries.”

“As one of the fastest growing cities in Asia, where thousands of foreign workers arrived every year, Kuala Lumpur represents a likely hotspot for malaria importation in Malaysia. Rapid development in the city has led to an influx of low- and semi-skilled foreign workers and many of whom have come illegally or without work permits. In addition, there are significant numbers of displaced people in Kuala Lumpur with no nationality that arrive from malaria endemic countries in Asia, particularly from Myanmar.

“We believe with improved surveillance, collaboration with key industries and other government agencies, and cross-border cooperation with neighbouring endemic countries are critical for addressing the ongoing threat of malaria importation and to achieve elimination in the country”, Zulkarnain Md Idris concludes.

The study was funded by the Dana Fundamental PPUKM (FF-2018-116) from the Faculty of Medicine, UKM under the Special Study Module (SSM).

Publication

“Malaria in urban Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 2005 to 2017” Zulkarnain Md Idris, Fatin Nor Shakila Zainal, Lee Shu Ching, Amiruzair Azmin, Zakiah Hamdan, Ummi Athirah Kamaruzaman, Chim W. Chan, M. Aiman Mohtar, Mohd Bakhtiar Munajat, Azlin Muhammad Yasin, Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, online Apr. 3, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2021.102055.