The North Borneo state of Sabah is known worldwide for its beautiful islands and dive sites. Local hospitals deal with a number of marine-related injuries, including marine fauna envenomation by Scorpaenidae and Synanceiidae families of fish. We report a case of a tourist who presented with excruciating pain on her right foot after stepping on a stonefish. Despite being given parenteral analgesia and regional anaesthesia, the pain persisted. Her pain improved after she soaked her foot in hot water for about 30 minutes. No further treatment was required. We reviewed the literature comparing this inexpensive mode of treatment with other conventional treatments. We also explored the possibility of using hot water immersion for treatment of envenomation by other types of marine animals.
Fishes, Poisonous ; Fish Venoms ; Water ; Primary Health Care

COVID-19 is one of the worst global pandemics in the last 20 years caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2. To control the pandemic in Malaysia, on 18th March 2020 the government implemented the Movement Control Order (MCO), a non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) under Malaysia’s Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988. Despite a high rate of compliance to the MCO in East Malaysia, a month after its implementation, a new cluster of infections among hospital healthcare workers (HCW) had emerged. This paper reports the early findings of a multinational study involving Malaysia, Thailand, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Our early analysis seeks to understand two main situational factors in the states of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia – testing rates and household composition between HCW and non-healthcare workers (non-HCW). Our results showed that there were higher testing rates and smaller-sized households among HCW when compared to non-HCW workers.