10 die of mystery disease in Northern Papua New Guinea

[alert]

Despite the bizarre reported symptoms, this may very well be a cholera outbreak; we have several cholera outbreak threads in PNG where the local symptomatic description was extremely bizarre.

Although this blog is credible, I cannot find the original report in The National (www.thenational.com.pg) that it is citing.

http://malumnalu.blogspot.com/2011/01/mystery-disease-kills-10-in-northern.html

Wednesday, January 19, 2011Mystery disease kills 10 in Northern
TEN people have died reportedly from an unknown disease in remote villages along the Owen Stanley Range in Northern, The National reports.

This has caused panic and a health concern among other villagers and nearby areas as the disease causes extreme swelling to various parts of the body then they die.

Public servants, who live in Port Moresby, were recently in these villages for the Christmas and New Year festive season and witnessed this.

Located in the Fafia local level government of Musa, 10 villagers in Upper Musa along the two main rivers had contracted the disease, causing the Middle and Lower Musa people to fear for their lives because of the risk of infection.

The symptoms include painful swellings from the legs, then it spreads to the arms and hands, the stomach and then the head before it kills the person.

Musa villagers are concerned because there was a lack of medical personnel to attend to those affected.

“The health facilities, such as the buildings are there, they are rundown.

“They have been I that state for the past 12 or so years,” one public servant said.

He said because of this, and the lack of drugs, there were no health workers around.

Leaders in Middle and Lower Musa villages are now requesting officials from the provincial and national health authorities to investigate.

They are fearful that the disease may be water-borne as they are located downstream from the affected area, and that the water may be contaminated with bacteria.

The source said the inability to get medical assistance to these people was a case of negligence and ignorance by the provincial government.

“This also applies to other basic services such as setting up and running a school in this area”.

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: 10 die of mystery disease in Northern Papua New Guinea

The National link:

http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/15758

Same text as the blog.

 

[alert]

Re: 10 die of mystery disease in Northern Papua New Guinea

And ProMED picks up the story. I don't think I would put much faith in the bizarre symptomatic description, though.

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/apex/..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,86739


Archive Number 20110120.0238
Published Date 20-JAN-2011
Subject PRO/EDR> Undiagnosed disease, fatal - Papua New Guinea: northern, RFI


UNDIAGNOSED DISEASE, FATAL - PAPUA NEW GUINEA: NORTHERN, REQUEST FOR
INFORMATION
***********************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

Date: Wed 19 Jan 2011
Source: MalumNalu.blogspot.com [edited]
<http://malumnalu.blogspot.com/2011/01/mystery-disease-kills-10-in-northern.html>


Ten people have died reportedly from an unknown disease in remote
villages along the Owen Stanley Range in Northern [Province?], The
National reports [see <http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/15758 >].
This has caused panic and a health concern among other villagers and
[in] nearby areas, as the disease causes extreme swelling to various
parts of the body, then they die.

Public servants, who live in Port Moresby, were recently in these
villages for the Christmas and New Year festive season and witnessed
this disease.

In the Fafia local level government of Musa, 10 villagers in Upper
Musa along the 2 main rivers had contracted the disease, causing the
Middle and Lower Musa people to fear for their lives because of the
risk of infection.

The symptoms include painful swellings from the legs, which then
spread to the arms and hands, the stomach and then the head before it
kills the person.

Musa villagers are concerned because there was a lack of medical
personnel to attend to those affected. "The health facilities, such as
the buildings that are there, are rundown. They have been [in] that
state for the past 12 or so years," one public servant said. He said
because of this and the lack of drugs, there were no health workers
around. Leaders in Middle and Lower Musa villages are now requesting
officials from the provincial and national health authorities to
investigate.

They are fearful that the disease may be water-borne as they are
located downstream from the affected area, and that the water may be
contaminated with bacteria. The source said the inability to get
medical assistance to these people was a case of negligence and
ignorance by the provincial government. "This also applies to other
basic services such as setting up and running a school in this area."

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[Outbreaks of mysterious illnesses in remote regions of Papua New
Guinea have been reported by ProMED-mail in the past. At times, these
illnesses have been attributed to influenza, dysentery, and cholera.
The news release describes the current illness as painful swelling
that starts in the legs and then spreads to the arms and hands, the
abdomen and finally the head before it kills the person. Swelling that
starts in the legs (possibly dependent edema), and then involves the
abdomen (possibly ascites) and finally the face, suggests kidney
disease.

Neither the presence of fever, respiratory symptoms such as shortness
of breath, nor diarrhea are mentioned as part of the clinical picture.
The local populace is said to think the illness is infectious and
possibly water-borne; exposure to a toxin is not mentioned. The region
lacks the resources to readily diagnose the illness. ProMED-mail would
very much appreciate confirmation of the clinical presentation and
information on the results of investigations of these reported
undiagnosed deaths in Papua New Guinea.

The eastern part of the island of New Guinea forms the mainland of
Papua New Guinea, which has been an independent country since 1975.
The country consists of 4 regions, which are divided into provinces;
each province has one or more districts, and each district has one or
more Local Level Government (LLG) areas
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oro_Province#Districts_and _LLGs>). The
outbreak is said to be occurring in remote villages, apparently in the
Northern [Province?], along the Owen Stanley Range, the southeastern
part of the central mountain chain in Papua New Guinea. The Northern
or Oro Province is a coastal province of Papua New Guinea (see
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oro_Province#Districts_and_LLGs>). For a
map of this region, see
<http://www.maplandia.com/papua-new-guinea/northern/>. The
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Papua New Guinea can be found
at: <http://healthmap.org/r/00Kp>. - Mod.ML]

 

[alert]

Re: 10 die of mystery disease in Northern Papua New Guinea

Not much new information, but a new source.

IMO, there is a lot questionable about this report.

http://www.australianetworknews.com/stories/201101/3124456.htm?desktop

Mystery disease claims 10 lives in PNG's Oro ProvinceLast Updated: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:25:00 +1100

Papua New Guinea Health authorities have dispatched a team to investigate reports that a mystery disease has killed 10 people in the area along the Owen Stanley Range in Oro Province.

The outbreak was first brought to the attention of the authorities through the media by a senior public servant from the area when he returned from holidays.

He reported that those who died experienced painful swelling in the legs, which spread to their arms and hands, and they eventually died after it spread to their stomach and head.

 

[alert]

Re: 10 die of mystery disease in Northern Papua New Guinea - several illnesses

Re: 10 die of mystery disease in Northern Papua New Guinea - several illnesses

When the symptoms reported were this wild, this was to be expected.

Perhaps someone should send this to ProMED as there was an RFI above.

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=58538

Mysterious PNG deaths put down to a lack of health services
Posted at 23:13 on 02 February, 2011 UTC

Health officials say ten apparently mysterious deaths in remote northern villages in Papua New Guinea were due to a lack of health services in the area.

Last week the Department of Health responded to the reports by sending officials to the Upper Musa area in the Owen Stanley Ranges to verify causes of the deaths.

Dr Pison Dakulala, the deputy secretary of health, says the deaths were all the result of illnesses not being treated.

“This is a question of neglect and conditions that have come out have been as a result of not getting to be seen by health workers for a long long time and so general conditions of health deteriorated so that’s what’s resulted.”
Dr Dakulala says the geography of the region also means it’s difficult to get access to some of the villages in the area.

---------

And for the sake of completeness, here's an earlier article doubting the report.

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=58435

PNG health officials unable to explain mystery illness
Posted at 22:35 on 26 January, 2011 UTC

Health officials in Papua New Guinea are still to confirm newspaper reports that ten people have died of a mysterious illness in remote villages in Northern Province.

Local media have carried stories saying the deaths have caused panic in the Upper Musa area in the Owen Stanley Ranges.

It’s been reported the victims suffer painful swelling in the legs which then spreads to the arms and hands, the stomach and the head.

But assistant secretary of health, Dr Pison Dakulala, says they are still checking the veracity of the claims.

“The source of the information that has come through regarding the mysterious diseases is not verified, and so we are working to try and find out, with the team dispatched down to gather us more clarity. Really at this point I can’t say what the picture is.”

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: 10 die of mystery disease in Northern Papua New Guinea

Sent.