State health director Dr Othman Warijo said the cases were reported on Nov 18 and on Thursday, when the department declared an outbreak of JE in the district.

He said the cumulative number of JE cases reported in the state as of Thursday was 10 cases compared to eight in the same period last year, an increase of 25% with three deaths out of the 10 cases.

“Outbreak control activities were implemented immediately. Among the control measures implemented by the Kota Setar district health office and the state health department are vector control through larvicide spraying in patients’ residential localities as well as outbreak localities which are at risk.

“In addition, entomological studies at outbreak localities and active case detection (ACD) were carried out around the affected areas,” he said in a statement last night.

Othman said the community was advised to clean up the environment and seek and destroy mosquito breeding grounds in their homes and get immediate treatment at health clinics if they experienced symptoms such as fever, headache and vomiting.

JE is a viral brain infection that is spread through mosquito bites. The virus is found in pigs and birds, and is passed to mosquitoes when they bite infected animals.