Cholera Outbreak in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

[Roehl_JC]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

We too in NZ are being told that Cholera has been confirmed, but I'd have to assume like Trey that there's significant H1N1 in PNG's areas with Aussie workers entering and leaving frequently, and perhaps there's bird flu in the area too, since it's endemic in most of the remainder of the Indon archipelago.
Not a very good place to get modern medical responses to these rural people.
Let's hope it's just H1N1 and cholera, and not something more serious along with them.

 

[Roehl_JC]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Here's more from NZ's local news: (confirms cholera and influenza, mostly likely H1N1)

Cholera latest killer illness in PNG, as dysentry and flu deaths rise
Posted at 03:37 on 31 August, 2009 UTC

Cholera is the latest illness to afflict villages in Papua New Guinea’s Morobe province with at least five people dead and 80 more suffering from the water borne disease.

PNG health authorities are already struggling to cope with outbreaks of dysentry and influenza which have killed a further forty eight people in other remote villages over the past three weeks.

The health advisor for the province, Dr Theo Likei, says a medical team from the World Health Organisation have just returned from the coastal village where the latest deaths occurred.

“They went down there already, collect the sample and then came back. And that’s how they’ve confirmed the cholera for us. But we are yet to take the necessary action to make sure the situation is truly under control and to make sure that precautionary measures are taken by the villagers as much as possible.”
Dr Likei says transporting supplies and medical staff to help people in the remote rural villages is a major problem.

News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=48797

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Papua New Guinea disease outbreak kills 47: officials - Yahoo! News

PNG disease outbreak kills 47: officials

PORT MORESBY (AFP

Twin outbreaks of a flu-like illness and dysentery in a remote region of Papua New Guinea have killed 47 people and infected another 2,000 villagers, a senior medical official said Monday.

Worried health officials say that 95 percent of the cases are in one small village in Morobe Province on the northwest coast of the Pacific nation, but warned the illnesses were proving difficult to control.

Twenty-seven villagers in Morobe's Menyamya district have died from an influenza-like illness since August 3, while a further 20 were felled by dysentery, provincial health adviser Doctor Theo Likei told AFP.

"Roughly 2,000 people are sick in about 12 villages and we suspect influenza and dysentery are the cause," he said. "So far there have been about 47 deaths, about 90 percent of them in the village of Akwanda.

"The problem is that once it gets started in remote areas it's very hard to stop and the area is hard to reach, but we are hoping the illness will remain isolated to pockets of the area so we can manage it," he added.

It was not immediately known whether the flu-like illness was swine flu or another strain. The World Health Organization has taken samples from stricken villages and is expected to report back within two weeks, Likei said.

"This is the worst such crisis we have seen here, Likei said. "The situation is not that encouraging as of today but we will monitor closely over the next two days or so and hope it comes under control."

Four three-man health teams are on the ground treating victims of the outbreaks and encouraging villagers to restrict their movements, boil water and take care when preparing food to avoid spreading the disease further.

Doctors do not believe the eruption of two diseases about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of PNG's second city of Lae are linked as dysentery is usually bacterial and flu is viral.

But complicating the medical relief effort, a separate eruption of cholera in the east of Morobe province has killed a further seven adults and sickened 73 other people, Likei said.

"We have yet to take the necessary action to make sure the situation is under control. I hope to get teams in there by chopper soon," he said.
-
​

<cite cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090831/wl_asia_afp/healthfludysenterypng_20090831074747">PNG disease outbreak kills 47: officials - Yahoo! News</cite>

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Cholera is the latest illness to afflict villages in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe province with at least five people dead and 80 more suffering from the water borne disease.

PNG health authorities are already struggling to cope with outbreaks of dysentry and influenza which have killed a further forty eight people in other remote villages over the past three weeks.

The health advisor for the province, Dr Theo Likei, says a medical team from the World Health Organisation have just returned from the coastal village where the latest deaths occurred.

World Health Organisation (WHO) representatives based in PNG sent an investigation team to Finschhafen District, Morobe Province in PNG's northwest coast late last week after a mysterious illness ripped through the area.
They have since confirmed the incidence of cholera.

Twin outbreaks of a flu-like illness and dysentery in a remote region of Papua New Guinea have killed 47 people and infected another 2,000 villagers, a senior medical official said Monday........

.....But complicating the medical relief effort, a separate eruption of cholera in the east of Morobe province has killed a further seven adults and sickened 73 other people

Map of Morobe province

View attachment 4030

Menyama district is in the west in a highland area

The area affected by cholera is on the north east coast in the Finschhafen District

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Cholera or swine flu kills 41 in PNG

[/LIST]
31 August 2009 | 05:01:20 PM | Source: AAP

An outbreak of cholera and another of suspected swine flu in separate parts of a Papua New Guinean province are being blamed for the deaths of up to 41 villagers.

PNG's Health Minister Sasa Zibe has confirmed the cases of cholera after World Health Organisation (WHO) workers found the disease was responsible for seven deaths in Morobe Province, on PNG's north coast.

Scores of other unexplained deaths are expected to be either cholera or the influenza A(H1N1) virus, commonly known as swine flu, PNG Department of Health Secretary Dr Clement Malau told AAP.

"There has been two outbreaks in two different parts of the Morobe Province, Menyamia and Wasu.

"We've confirmed cholera in Wasu and are trying to assess whether the other disease is swine flu or an influenza strain," he said.

"At the moment, we want to contain and establish the cause of both outbreaks.

"We are very concerned and hope cholera hasn't established itself in PNG as it would be another great burden to an already strained health system," he said.

Over the past month, PNG health officials have been receiving information about a mystery illness causing havoc in Morobe.

Zibe said, in a statement released on Friday: "As this is the first reported (cholera) case, the government will now be reporting this to the WHO as part of the requirement under the international health regulation".

He urged villagers with cholera's diarrhoea-like symptoms or severe dehydration to report immediately to rural health facilities.

WHO PNG representative Eigil Sorensen said his office was working with PNG's Department of Health.

"PNG saw cholera in the 1960s so has not seen anything like it in the last 40 to 50 years," he said.

"There's some belief maybe it's come from marine life. Shellfish have been responsible in other cases overseas," Sorensen said.

"We've confirmed six or seven deaths but are carrying out more tests," he said.

The WHO says cholera is treatable and mainly transmitted through contaminated water and food, and is closely linked to inadequate environmental management.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1080282/latest-from-wire/

 

[alert]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Oh. So now we have two conflicting stories. One report says it is all cholera (41 deaths due to cholera), and another indicating three outbreaks (influenza-like, dysentery, and cholera).

I tend to believe the report that it is all cholera, but will still keep an eye on this. The influenza-like disease (if it exists) would have a CFR far a little high for Pandemic H1N1, even in an area with lots of pre-existing conditions (althoug the denominator of illnesses has now been apparently increased to 2,000, which would reduce the CFR. Also excluding cholera deaths would also reduce the CFR as well).

We'll have to see what turns up.

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Location of Wasu relative to Finschhafen town in Finschhafen District



http://travelingluck.com/Oceana/Papua+New+Guinea/Morobe/_2083708_Wasu.html#local_map

 

[alert]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/World/Story/STIStory_423655.html

Aug 31, 2009
47 dead, 2,000 ill from disease

PORT MORESBY - TWIN outbreaks of a mystery flu and dysentery in a remote region of Papua New Guinea have killed 47 people and infected another 2,000 villagers, a senior medical official said on Monday.

WORRIED local health officials warned that the dual outbreak of illness was proving difficult to control as the eruption was in an isolated area some eight hours' rough drive from PNG's second city of Lae.

'The problem is that once it gets started in remote areas it's very hard to stop and the area is hard to reach, but we are hoping the illness will remain isolated to pockets of the area so we can manage it,' Mr Likei said. 'This is the worst such crisis we have seen here. The situation is not that encouraging as of today but we will monitor closely over the next two days or so and hope it comes under control.'
... more
And a separate eruption of cholera in the Pacific island nation has killed seven adults and sickened 73 other people, provincial health adviser Theo Likei told AFP.

Twenty-seven villagers in the Menyamya district of Morobe province, on the northeast coast, have died from an as-yet unidentified influenza since August 3, while a further 20 were felled by dysentery.

'Roughly 2,000 people are sick in about 12 villages and we suspect influenza and dysentery are the cause,' Mr Likei told AFP.

'So far there have been about 47 deaths, about 90 per cent of them in the village of Akwanda,' where 95 per cent of the reported flu and dysentery infections were reported.

It was not immediately known whether the flu-like illness was H1N1 flu or another strain. The World Health Organization has taken samples from stricken villages and test results could be available within days, a WHO official said.

'We cannot rule out swine flu at the moment but the outbreak is in a remote area, which would be a little surprising if it is H1N1 (swine flu)', said the WHO representative in PNG, Eigil Sorensen.

'But the number of sick and fatalities are certainly higher than normal so we take both of these outbreaks seriously,' he told AFP.

Papua New Guinea has reported around 10 cases of swine flu but they were traced back and appeared to have been imported into the country, Mr Sorensen said. -- AFP

 

[Treyfish]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

WHO says PNG health system limited for coping with cholera outbreak
Posted at 08:04 on 31 August, 2009 UTC
The World Health Organisation says Papua New Guinea’s health system has only a limited capacity to cope with an outbreak of cholera, that’s killed at least five people.
A WHO medical team has just returned from coastal villages in Morobe Province where more than 80 people have contracted the waterborne disease.
It comes as health authorities are dealing with a separate outbreak of dysentry and influenza that’s killed at least 48 people.
The WHO’s representative in PNG, Dr Eigel Sorenson says the outbreak is unusual because cholera has not occurred in the country in more than 40 years.
He says the WHO is providing technical support, but managing the diseases will be an issue because of the weakness in the country’s health care system

“Health services in general in Papua New Guinea are not very strong, and particularly in rural areas. A cholera outbreak is a major concern, their capacity to deal with this, when it comes to communicable disease control I think there is limited capacity within the country.”
​

Dr Sorenson says the difficult terrain in PNG makes it more challenging and costly to treat people.:tiphat:http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=48801

 

[alert]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

So the outbreak of concern is the one in Menyamya. Wasu is definitely cholera, but Menyamya remains undiagnosed. It could be cholera, or could be H1N1, or could be something else. We'll have to keep an eye on it, but I think three agents in the area (dysentery, cholera, and flu) is fairly unlikely.

This would be a REALLY bad place for either H5N1 or a novel virus.

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Distance from Menyamya village to other villages (I believe the figures are for a straight line)

* Menyamya (0km)
* Hota (8.3km)
* Eiba (11.8km)
* Kainye (12.5km)
* Menya (12.5km)
* Yinimba (13.2km)
* Etobanga (15km)
* Nenewe (17.2km)
* Wiama Number 1 (18.7km)
* Wiama Number 2 (18.7km)
* Himerka (20.8km)
* Tamoi (20.9km)
* Katanga (20.9km)
* Kabong (22.4km)
* Ibagei (22.4km)
* Kwagaga (23.6km)
* Akwanje (24.3km)
* Sikwong (25km)
* Iwaia (25.4km)
* Aiogi (25.4km)
* Singeiapa (26.4km)
* Hekwangi (26.7km)
* Komalakatcha (26.7km)
* Wauwoga (26.7km)
* Yagwoingwe (30.3km)
* Piwi'anga (30.4km)
* Lagai (31.8km)
* Kwoi'imnga (31.8km)
* Hiwabri (32.6km)
* Wunangapan (32.6km)
* Kwandagogi (33.6km)
* Ata (33.7km)
* Hauwambanga (33.7km)
* Awaiepa (34.4km)
* Tsinjangogwi (34.4km)
* Yaa-Didimanga (34.5km)
* Iboi (35.6km)
* Huwawia (37.4km)
* Aiogwei (37.5km)
* Wawbini (37.9km)
* Huau (38.4km)
* Gwaloik (38.4km)
* Hambia (38.5km)
* Woimbo (39.5km)
* Pewabango (41.2km)
* Gemantua (42km)
* Kotidanga (42km)
* Wempangu (42.6km)
* Ewai-Udidanga (42.6km)
* Hemieta (42.6km)
* Karangae (43.6km)
* Sugawianga (46km)
* Aiwamba (48.8km)
* Yakana (48.8km)
* Iemepango (50.9km)

http://travelingluck.com/Oceana/Papua+New+Guinea/Morobe/_2090951_Menyamya.html#local_map

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Menyamya town has an airstrip

Follow link for more images of the area http://www.panoramio.com/map/#lt=-7.211433&ln=146.019974&z=4&k=2

 

[Treyfish]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Cholera or swine flu kills 41 in PNG</HEADLINE><!-- Insert Article Content --><!-- Article Details -->

• Ilya Gridneff
• August 31, 2009 - 3:04PM

<BOD>An outbreak of cholera and another of suspected swine flu in separate parts of a Papua New Guinean province are being blamed for the deaths of up to 41 villagers.
PNG's Health Minister Sasa Zibe has confirmed the cases of cholera after World Health Organisation (WHO) workers found the disease was responsible for seven deaths in Morobe Province, on PNG's north coast.
Scores of other unexplained deaths are expected to be either cholera or the influenza A(H1N1) virus, commonly known as swine flu, PNG Department of Health Secretary Dr Clement Malau told AAP.
"There has been two outbreaks in two different parts of the Morobe Province, Menyamia and Wasu.
"We've confirmed cholera in Wasu and are trying to assess whether the other disease is swine flu or an influenza strain," he said.
"At the moment, we want to contain and establish the cause of both outbreaks.
"We are very concerned and hope cholera hasn't established itself in PNG as it would be another great burden to an already strained health system," he said.
Over the past month, PNG health officials have been receiving information about a mystery illness causing havoc in Morobe.
Zibe said, in a statement released on Friday: "As this is the first reported (cholera) case, the government will now be reporting this to the WHO as part of the requirement under the international health regulation".
He urged villagers with cholera's diarrhoea-like symptoms or severe dehydration to report immediately to rural health facilities.
WHO PNG representative Eigil Sorensen said his office was working with PNG's Department of Health.
"PNG saw cholera in the 1960s so has not seen anything like it in the last 40 to 50 years," he said.
"There's some belief maybe it's come from marine life. Shellfish have been responsible in other cases overseas," Sorensen said.
"We've confirmed six or seven deaths but are carrying out more tests," he said.
The WHO says cholera is treatable and mainly transmitted through contaminated water and food, and is closely linked to inadequate environmental management.:tiphat:http://www.watoday.com.au/breaking-...-swine-flu-kills-41-in-png-20090831-f4f1.html

 

[Treyfish]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Mystery disease strikes in Papua New Guinea <TABLE style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff; WIDTH: 405px; HEIGHT: 44px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="WIDTH: 360px" class=caption>
August 31 2009 at 11:14AM </TD></TR><TR><TD style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cccccc; HEIGHT: 1px" colSpan=2></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=mainarticle border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=svarticletext>
[SIZE=+1][/SIZE]Port Moresby - Twin outbreaks of a flu-like illness and dysentery in a remote region of Papua New Guinea have killed 47 people and infected another 2 000 villagers, a senior medical official said on Monday.

Worried health officials say that 95 percent of the cases are in one small village in Morobe Province on the north-west coast of the Pacific nation, but warned the illnesses were proving difficult to control.

Twenty-seven villagers in Morobe's Menyamya district have died from an influenza-like illness since August 3, while a further 20 were felled by dysentery, provincial health adviser Doctor Theo Likei told AFP.


"Roughly 2 000 people are sick in about 12 villages and we suspect influenza and dysentery are the cause," he said. "So far there have been about 47 deaths, about 90 percent of them in the village of Akwanda.

"The problem is that once it gets started in remote areas it's very hard to stop and the area is hard to reach, but we are hoping the illness will remain isolated to pockets of the area so we can manage it," he added.

It was not immediately known whether the flu-like illness was swine flu or another strain. The World Health Organisation has taken samples from stricken villages and is expected to report back within two weeks, Likei said.

"This is the worst such crisis we have seen here, Likei said. "The situation is not that encouraging as of today but we will monitor closely over the next two days or so and hope it comes under control."

Four three-man health teams are on the ground treating victims of the outbreaks and encouraging villagers to restrict their movements, boil water and take care when preparing food to avoid spreading the disease further.

Doctors do not believe the eruption of two diseases about 120 kilometres west of PNG's second city of Lae are linked as dysentery is usually bacterial and flu is viral.

But complicating the medical relief effort, a separate eruption of cholera in the east of Morobe province has killed a further seven adults and sickened 73 other people, Likei said.

"We have yet to take the necessary action to make sure the situation is under control. I hope to get teams in there by chopper soon," he said. - AFP
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
:tiphat:http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=117&art_id=nw20090831110753312C240746

 

[alert]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

A little quick math: 27 deaths due to flu in about 1,800 cases (2,000 total - 212 dysentery) is a 1.5% CFR so far, for what its worth. Without knowing how many have recovered and how many are still ill, we cannot compute a true CFR. This appears to be well within the range of any influenza, either seasonal, pandemic, bird, or novel.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/08/31/cholera-papua-new-guinea-flu.html

Cholera, flu outbreaks in Papua New Guinea
Last Updated: Monday, August 31, 2009 | 3:56 PM ET Comments0Recommend1CBC News
An outbreak of cholera has killed at least five people and infected about 80 others in Papua New Guinea, health authorities say.

The outbreak occurred in two villages in Morobe Province, on the country's north coast.

Health Minister Sasa Zibe has called for emergency measures to contain the outbreak — the first time the disease has been officially confirmed in the country by the World Health Organization.

"I would be much more concerned if this was in an urban area because to contain [the outbreak] in an urban environment is really challenging," said Dr. Eigil Sorensen of WHO.

Cholera is an intestinal infection that is usually spread through contaminated food or water. Most infected people don't get sick, but about five per cent will become severely ill and develop profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting and leg cramps.

In this case, Sorensen said eating uncooked shellfish may have led to the outbreak.

Flu-like illnesses
In Morobe's Menyamya district, 27 people have also died of an influenza-like illness since Aug. 3, and another 20 have been victims of dysentery, provincial health adviser Dr. Theo Likei told Agence France-Presse.

"Roughly 2,000 people are sick in about 12 villages, and we suspect influenza and dysentery are the cause," Likei said. "So far, there have been about 47 deaths, about 90 per cent of them in the village of Akwanda."

WHO has taken samples to test whether the illness is swine flu or another strain, Likei said.

Likei told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the worst affected cases in Menyama district were children and pregnant women.

A moderator's comment on Promed, the International Society for Infectious Diseases' internet-based reporting system for tracking outbreaks, noted the reports are conflicting. The latter points to influenza-like illness, possibly the H1N1 pandemic virus, given the apparent vulnerability of children and pregnant women; the other suggests a more multifaceted outbreak.

 

[alert]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Not much new here, but this is ProMed posting #3. I didn't notice the bold text before - I can't imagine why a seasonal H1N1 would be more likely than a seasonal H3N2, especially considering that Hong Kong is detecting H3N2 but not seasonal H1N1.

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,79020

Archive Number 20090831.3062
Published Date 31-AUG-2009
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Undiagnosed disease - Papua New Guinea (03): (MR)


UNDIAGNOSED DISEASE - PAPUA NEW GUINEA (03): (MOROBE)
*****************************************************
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: Mon 31 Aug 2009
Source: The Straits Times [edited]
<http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_423655.html>


Twin outbreaks of a mystery flu and dysentery in a remote region of
Papua New Guinea (PNG) have killed 47 people and infected another 2000
villagers, a senior medical official said on Monday [31 Aug 2009]. And
a separate eruption of cholera in the Pacific island nation has killed
7 adults and sickened 73 other people, provincial health adviser Theo
Likei told AFP [Agence France-Presse].

27 villagers in the Menyamya district of Morobe province, on the
northeast coast, have died from an as yet unidentified influenza since
3 Aug 2009, while a further 20 were felled by dysentery. "Roughly 2000
people are sick in about 12 villages, and we suspect influenza and
dysentery are the cause," Mr Likei told AFP. "So far, there have been
about 47 deaths, about 90 per cent of them in the village of Akwanda,"
where 95 per cent of the reported flu and dysentery infections were
reported.

It was not immediately known whether the flu-like illness was the
pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus or a seasonal H1N1 flu strain.
The World Health Organization has taken samples from stricken
villages, and test results could be available within days, a WHO
official said. "We cannot rule out swine flu [influenza pandemic
(H1N1) 2009 influenza virus] at the moment, but the outbreak is in a
remote area, [so it] would be a little surprising if it is caused by
the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus H1N1," said the WHO representative in
PNG, Eigil Sorensen. "But the number of sick and fatalities are
certainly higher than normal, so we take both of these outbreaks
seriously," he told AFP.

Papua New Guinea has reported around 10 cases of swine flu [pandemic
(H1N1) 2009 virus infection], but they were traced back and appeared
to have been imported into the country, Mr Sorensen said.

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

[The location of Morobe province can be found using the
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Papua New Guinea at:
<http://healthmap.org/r/00Kp>. - Mod.CP]

[see also:
Undiagnosed disease - Papua New Guinea (02): (MR) 20090830.3049
Undiagnosed disease - Papua New Guinea (MR), RFI 20090828.3033]
.......................................................cp/msp/jw

 

[Rwilmer]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Give this a read this is a very interesting article:

Cholera bug mutates to acquire flu qualities: scientists
Kalyan Ray,DH News Service,Aug 31,New Delhi:

They may be different infections caused by different kinds of micro organisms, but scientists have now found that cholera and flu are getting closer and may hit populations across the world with devastating effect.




An international team that analysed the genome of 23 strains of cholera bugs has discovered that they will become more dangerous in future to infect a large number of people. The strains taken for analysis had infected the world in the past 98 years.
The team, led by Rita Cowell, former head of the US National Science Foundation, say the manner of the mutated cholera agents are similar to those observed typically in flu. This would also make the newer strain more virulent.

Public health workers should anticipate emergence of a new strain and prepare themselves accordingly, the researchers reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday. ?Comparative genome analysis show small changes in the bug's genetic structure particularly in the path that governs virulence and transmissibility," G Balakrish Nair, the Indian contributor to the research and director of the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Disease (NICD), Kolkata told Deccan Herald.

The world witnessed six cholera pandemics and is currently undergoing the seventh pandemic that began in 1961. Between 2006 and 2008, India reported 7254 cases of cholera. Though Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra contributed to the bulk of the infected cases, about 85 per cent of them were spread over five states in the country, including Karnataka.

Experts, however, say that the estimates grossly understate the seriousness of the condition in India. "Cholera is under-reported in the country," Nair admitted.
During an outbreak, any pathogen -be it cholera or flu- comes under collective pressure of immunity. Mutation in pathogens would enable the organism to deceive the immune system. Observing the epidemic in India and Bangladesh in 1992, the NICED had reported that cholera strain O1 changes its outer jacket to become O139 to evade the body's immunity against it.

Nair warns that a similar mutation can happen again to infect more people.

H1N1 toll crosses 100 mark

Pune/Dehradun/Bangalore:

The death count in the unrelenting swine flu pandemic has crossed the 100 mark after the virus claimed four more lives in three states. With three men dying in Pune and Bangalore and a woman succumbing in Dehradun, the countrywide toll due to infection now stands at 102. Maharashtra has the highest fatalities with 53 deaths.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/22696/cholera-bug-mutates-acquire-flu.html

 

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Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

I think we're misreading that article, Rwilmer. I don't thin kthey are saying that the cholera bacterium is producing flu-like symptoms. I think they are saying it is spreading like flu, causing something like a pandemic.

 

[Rwilmer]

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

"Comparative genome analysis show small changes in the bug's genetic structure particularly in the path that governs virulence and transmissibility"

I believe it is saying that it is more virulent.

 

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Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 70 dead, 800+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

It is more virulent. The O139 strains of cholera have been known to be more virulent than previous strains, and that would certainly cause the excess deaths. But that doesn't explain the flu-like symptoms.