Preparedness

  3.1 Prevention steps

According to the guidelines given by the Ministry of Health Malaysia (2011), health education activities are conducted to create awareness of leptospirosis. Electronic media, printed materials and interpersonal such as conversations with colleagues or family are some of the strategies made by the ministry to spread awareness to the public. 

Figure 7. Infographic of leptospirosis

        Then, risk assessments of possible contaminated water sources/bodies are conducted to know the safety of the water source and the availability of facilities to prevent rodents from roaming in places such as recreational parks as shown in Figure 8. Other than that, after assessing an area and the area is found to be contaminated with leptospirosis, health hazard signage is placed to warn the public as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 8. Example of risk assessment for recreational park

Figure 9. Example of hazard signage

Next, individuals who are exposed to the contaminated water or soil are advised to wear waterproof protective clothing, cover skin lesions with waterproof dressings, wash the wound with clean water immediately after exposure to leptospirosis and seek medical treatment if there is any severe symptom occurring. Then, the public is advised to keep homes free from rodents and is urged to vaccinate their pets. Next, the ministry also promotes interagency collaboration such as PERHILITAN to maintain cleanliness in relevant environmental settings, especially rodent control and promote cleanliness campaigns in recreational and housing areas.

    Leptospirosis had only been declared as a notifiable disease as of 9th December 2010 due to unknown exact disease burden in Malaysia even though the disease has existed since the 1920s. Leptospirosis has been listed as an infectious disease under Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 which includes the administration of authorized officers, police and customs, prevention of importation of leptospirosis, control of the spread of leptospirosis, offence and penalties (Prevention And Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988, 2020).

Conclusion 

In conclusion, leptospirosis is still one of the diseases with a high rate of infections, especially during climate change that causes floods. Awareness of leptospirosis should be disseminated to the public to avoid becoming infected by pathogenic or saprophytic Leptospires. Current guidelines on leptospirosis should be updated accordingly to avoid a future outbreak.