KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -- Malaysian authorities ordered hundreds of people to evacuate the country's main pig-breeding region Wednesday as troops continued to cull thousands of pigs to stem the spread of deadly Japanese encephalitis.
Health officials said two more people had died from the disease, raising the death toll to 58 since the outbreak began in October.And two people in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo Island had contracted the disease, until now confined to peninsular Malaysia, they said.
Government officials said some 900 people in central Negeri Sembilan state who were still reluctant to leave their homes had been told to evacuate immediately.
"These families have been advised on the JE conditions in their areas which is not conducive, especially with the culling operation progressing at full steam now," a senior state official told Reuters.
The virus, spread by Culex mosquitoes but harbored in pigs, has prompted a health scare and devastated Malaysia's $395 million pig-rearing industry.
More than 2,000 people have fled their homes since the outbreak began.