PUTRAJAYA, July 18 — All of the blood serum samples taken so far from pigs reared at Kampung Lubong, Tambunan in Sabah have tested negative for Japanese Encephalitis (JE), Department of Veterinarian Services (DVS) director-general Datuk Dr Quaza Nizamuddin Hassan Nizam said today.

Earlier today, Sabah Health and People’s Wellbeing Minister Datuk Frankie Poon Fung Ming announced that a 21-year-old man in a village in Tambunan had contracted JE.   Poon said the man, from Kampung Lubong, was under treatment in Keningau Hospital and his condition was stable.

Dr Quaza Nizamuddin, meanwhile, said there were a total of 80 pigs in Kampung Lubong and all of them were free-range reared.

Among those who reared them was the patient himself, who owned 12 pigs, he added.

Following this, the Sabah DVS took immediate action by taking blood serum samples from four pigs reared by the family and three more reared by their neighbours.

"However, all of those samples tested negative for JE,” Dr Quaza Nizamuddin said in a statement here.

According to him, another 23 blood serum samples were taken from Kampung Lubong yesterday, making it 30 samples in total so far.

"We will follow up by taking samples from another 50 pigs, which have to be caught first as they are all reared free range,” he said. — Bernama