GUA MUSANG: The deaths of 14 Orang Asli of the Batek tribe in Kuala Koh are believed to have been caused by a yet to be determined disease that is contagious only among the tribe’s members.
Sources believe that the victims may have contracted the disease from outsiders who worked in farms or for logging companies.
It is also possible that they could have contracted it from foreigners working in the manganese mine nearby.
“Based on what is happening now in Kuala Koh, we believe that the epidemic-like symptoms is contagious but confined to tribe members. “The swift action by the authorities to contain its spread by declaring the area a red zone justifies prevention measures to stop its spread.
“So far, all tests on raw water from the rivers have indicated negative contamination levels.
“We now have to wait for the laboratory tests from the Chemistry Department,” sources involved in the investigation told the New Straits Times.
The sources said the Orang Asli in Kuala Koh may have weak resistance or immunity against new forms of diseases or viral infections which could explain the sudden deaths of so many members of the tribe.
Kelantan health director Dr Zaini Hussin had said that the Health Ministry was expected to announce the test results next week, after receiving the sampling result from the Chemistry Department.
After visiting Felda Aring 10 here yesterday Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the Orang Asli were now facing the problems of shrinking hunting areas which had affected their protein intake, and the pressure of modernisation as well as poverty.
“Their immunity to viral diseases and chronic ailments is also (impaired). Outsiders may spread diseases unfamiliar to the tribes,” she said.