Floods displace 100,000 in Malaysia

SERI MEDAN, Malaysia: Fears about disease gripped the flood-devastated south of Malaysia on Monday, where more than 100,000 evacuees were crammed into emergency shelters. Two people have died from leptospirosis, a bacterial infection caused by exposure to water contaminated with the urine of animals such as rats, bringing to 15 the death toll from the country's worst flooding in nearly 40 years.

Health workers were planning to step up inoculations against typhoid and fumigate mosquito-prone areas to guard against diseases such as dengue fever and malaria. Warnings have also been issued about cholera.

The latest floods cut off several towns in Johor state, a major oil-palm and rubber growing region, and shut down power and water supplies. The Malaysian Meteorological Service said was forecasting heavy rain for the area until the middle of the week, Bernama, the national news agency reported.

Several relief centers in the Kota Tinggi area, the hardest hit, are overcrowded and cannot accept any more evacuees, an official at the Johor state flood operations center said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/15/news/flood.php