Teluk Bahang is a small fishing village located in the north-western of Penang Island, Malaysia. It has several attractions which include forest reserved park, ecotourism sites, theme parks and famous for its aquaculture activities. On 18th April 2019, fish farmers in Teluk Bahang experienced mass mortality of cultured fishes, namely groupers, barramundi, golden and red snappers due to a sudden change in water quality. Hence, this study was conducted to discuss marine pollution that occurred in Teluk Bahang that had caused the death of tonnes cultured fishes. Water samples were collected at the fish cage to investigate the water quality (physical and chemical parameters), heavy metals content, cell density and phytoplankton composition for determination of algal bloom that might be the cause of this crisis. Water samples were collected three times on 19th April 2019, 8th May 2019 and 26th May 2019. The results for physical and chemical parameters (pH, salinity, surface temperature, nitrate and phosphate) were all within the permissible limit according to Malaysia Marine Water Quality Class 2 (for aquaculture and recreation). Almost no harmful dinoflagellate species were detected in the water samples which indicated that phytoplankton did not cause a direct effect on the fish mortality. The concentration of heavy metals namely Cu, Cd, Ni, Fe, As and Hg in water samples were measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Results showed no detection of As and Hg concentration. The concentration of Cd, Cu and Fe in water ranged from 0.058-0.065ppm, 0.057-0.077ppm and Fe 0.326-0.389ppm respectively. These levels exceeded 20-100 times from the permissible limit. Ni concentration detected at 0.472-0.513ppm which was 990 times exceeded the permissible levels. These results indicated that metal pollution occurred in the marine water of Teluk Bahang and the possibility that the area may no longer be suitable for aquaculture or recreational purposes.

Western blot analysis was carried out on sera obtained from patients with P. falciparum (Pf) and P. vivax (Pv) on an antigen preparation of a laboratory propagated isolate of Pf (# 40) cultured in vitro. The reactivity to a 47kD band was sought based on the results from a previous study (Kano et al., 1990a). Pooled Pf sera (n=15) reacted with the 47kD band whereas pooled Pv sera (n=13) as well as pooled normal human sera (n=45) were not reactive with the 47kD band. An interesting finding was that the pooled Pv sera reacted with a 29kD band instead, while the pooled Pf sera was non-reactive to the 29kD band. In addition, two of four Pf-and three of four Pv-individual sera reacted with the 47kD and 29kD bands respectively. All of these sera had high IFAT (indirect fluorescent antibody test) titer. One of the sera obtained reacted with both the 47kD and 29kD bands but was later found to be from a patient with mixed Pf and Pv infection. The potential of these findings in diagnosis of Pf and Pv infections is discussed.