Separately, another TB case involving a primary schoolboy was detected in Pontian, Johor. This was confirmed by the Pontian district health office and Johor education and information committee chairman Aznan Tamin, according to local media.
Health officials have said the Pontian case is not related to the Kota Tinggi cluster despite both occurring in Johor state, according to Malay Mail. The two locations are about 125km apart.
While Johor recorded the highest number of cases as of last Saturday, Dzulkefly said Selangor has the most clusters, with four clusters involving 10 cases in total.
Sabah recorded five cases from one cluster while Pahang recorded four cases from one cluster. Kedah, Kelantan and Perlis each recorded two cases from one cluster.
Dzulkefly said the Health Ministry is conducting symptom screening targeting prolonged cough, fever, loss of appetite, sudden weight loss and clinical lung examinations.
Asked about the effectiveness of immunisation in preventing TB, Dzulkefly said that herd immunity through Malaysia’s National Immunisation Programme has reached nearly 99 per cent of children.
However, he cautioned that Malaysia is far from eradicating tuberculosis and urged the public to prioritise their health and strengthen their immune systems, reported the New Straits Times.
“Tuberculosis can be everywhere. We may have been exposed to it and the bacteria is in our body, but it is latent,” he said on Tuesday. “When our immunity drops, the bacteria will flare up.”
The Health Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that a total of 2,571 cases were reported from Jan 1 to Feb 7 this year, an increase of 229 cases or 9.8 per cent from the same period last year, when 2,342 cases were recorded.
Malaysia reported a total of 88 tuberculosis clusters involving 254 cases in 2025, with 35 clusters still classified as active, according to the New Straits Times.
The 10 clusters announced by Dzulkefly on Tuesday are newly detected clusters.
Read the full article here
