Of the ≈400 cases of avian influenza (H7N9) diagnosed in China since 2003, the only travel-related cases have been in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Detection of a case in a Chinese tourist in Sabah, Malaysia, highlights the ease with which emerging viral respiratory infections can travel globally.

The study was conducted to investigate the platelet increasing property of Carica papaya leaves juice (CPLJ) in patients with dengue fever (DF). An open labeled randomized controlled trial was carried out on 228 patients with DF and dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF). Approximately half the patients received the juice, for 3 consecutive days while the others remained as controls and received the standard management. Their full blood count was monitored 8 hours for 48 hours. Gene expression studies were conducted on the ALOX 12 and PTAFR genes. The mean increase in platelet counts were compared in both groups using repeated measure ANCOVA. There was a significant increase in mean platelet count observed in the intervention group but not in the control group 40 hours since the first dose of CPLJ. Comparison of mean platelet count between intervention and control group showed that mean platelet count in intervention group was significantly higher than control group after 40 and 48 hours of. The ALOX 12 (FC  =  15.00) and PTAFR (FC  =  13.42) genes were highly expressed among those on the juice. It was concluded that CPLJ does significantly increase the platelet count in patients with DF and DHF.

In March 2011, an outbreak of acute respiratory disease was reported at the Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Police Training Centre. Approximately 100 trainees were hospitalized and 5 were admitted to the intensive care unit. Three of these 5 trainees died. Human adenovirus type 7 was identified as the etiologic agent.

The 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1) infection in Malaysia was first reported in May 2009 and oseltamivir was advocated for confirmed cases in post exposure prophylaxis. However, there are cases of oseltamivir-resistance reported among H1N1-positive patients in other countries. Resistance is due to substitu tion of histidine by tyrosine at residue 275 (H275Y) of neuraminidase (NA). In this study, we have employed Sanger sequencing method to investigate the occur rence of mutations in NA segments of 67 pandemic 2009 A(H1N1) viral isolates from Malaysian patients that could lead to probable oseltamivir resistance. The sequencing analysis did not yield mutation at residue 275 for all 67 isolates indi cating that our viral isolates belong to the wild type and do not confer resistance to oseltamivir

Objective: To describe the complete nucleocapsid (N) gene region of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) from imported case in Malaysia and the relations with human- and camel-derived MERS-CoV. Methods: Combination of throat and nasal swab specimens was subjected to viral RNA extraction. For screening, the extracted RNA was subjected to real-time RT-PCR targeting upstream of E gene, open reading frame 1b and open reading frame 1a. For confirmation, the RNA was subjected to RT-PCR targeting partial part of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and nucleocapsid, followed by amplification of complete N gene region. Nucleotide sequencing of the first Malaysian case of MERS-CoV was performed following the confirmation with real-time RT-PCR detection. Results: Initial analysis of partial RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and N gene revealed that the nucleotides had high similarity to Jeddah_1_2013 strain. Analysis of complete N gene region (1 242 nucleotides) from the case showed high similarity and yet distinct to the nucleotide sequences of camel-derived MERS-CoV. Conclusions: From the finding, there are possibilities that the patient acquired the infection from zoonotic transmission from dromedary camels.

During the influenza A(H1N1) pdm09 outbreak, there were concerns about drug resistance to oseltamivir due to a mutation in the influenza A(H1N1) virus. The mutation at amino acid position 275 resulted from a substitution of histidine to tyrosine (H275Y) at the neuraminidase (N1) region was responsible to confer resistance to aseltamivir. The existing methods of detecting resistant viruses by sequencing and NA inhibition assays are laborious and time consuming. In this study, 120 influenza A(H1N1) pdm09 Malaysian viral isolates collected during the 2009-2010 pandemic season were tested for the presence of H275Y mutation by Taqman Dual Probe Real-Time PCR and High Resolution Melting (HRM) assays. The Taqman Real-Time PCR and HRM assays detect and distinguish wild type and mutant H275Y virus using dual probe and a saturation dye respectively. The difference in the sigmoidal curve in the Taqman Assay and the shift in the melt curve in HRM assay occurred when a single nucleotide variation is detected. All 120 influenza A(H1N1) pdm09 Malaysian isolates were found to be wild type. This finding was consistent with sequencing results. However, the developed HRM assay was found to be robust and cheaper than sequencing and Taqman assay.

Background: From the beginning of the COVID‐19 pandemic until mid‐October 2020, Malaysia recorded ~15,000 confirmed cases. But there could be undiagnosed cases due mainly to asymptomatic infections. Seroprevalence studies can better quantify underlying infection from SARS‐CoV‐2 by identifying humoral antibodies against the virus. This study was the first to determine the prevalence of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection in  Malaysia's general population, as well as the proportion of asymptomatic and undiagnosed infections. Methods: This cross‐sectional seroprevalence study with a two‐stage stratified random cluster sampling design included 5,131 representative community dwellers in Malaysia aged ≥1 year. Data collection lasted from 7 August to 11 October 2020 involving venous blood sampling and interviews for history of COVID‐19 symptoms and diagnosis. Previous SARS‐CoV‐2 infection was defined as screened positive using the Wantai SARS‐CoV‐2 Total Antibody enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and confirmed positive using the GenScript SARS‐CoV‐2 surrogate Virus Neutralization Test. We performed a complex sampling design analysis, calculating sample weights considering probabilities of selection, non‐response rate and post‐stratification weight. Results: The overall weighted prevalence of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection was 0.49% (95%CI 0.28–0.85) (N = 150,857). Among the estimated population with past infection, around 84.1% (95%CI 58.84–95.12) (N = 126 826) were asymptomatic, and 90.1% (95%CI 67.06–97.58) (N = 135 866) were undiagnosed. Conclusions: Our study revealed a low pre‐variant and pre‐vaccination seroprevalence of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection in Malaysia up to mid‐October 2020, with a considerable proportion of asymptomatic and undiagnosed cases. This led to subsequent adoption of SARS‐CoV‐2 antigen rapid test kits to increase case detection rate and to reduce time to results and infection control measures.