• FluTrackers.com Inc. does not provide medical advice. Information on this web site is collected from various internet resources, and the FluTrackers board of directors makes no warranty to the safety, efficacy, correctness or completeness of the information posted on this site by any author or poster. The information collated here is for instructional and/or discussion purposes only and is NOT intended to diagnose or treat any disease, illness, or other medical condition. Every individual reader or poster should seek advice from their personal physician/healthcare practitioner before considering or using any interventions that are discussed on this website. By continuing to access this website you agree to consult your personal physican before using any interventions posted on this website, and you agree to hold harmless FluTrackers.com Inc., the board of directors, the members, and all authors and posters for any effects from use of any medication, supplement, vitamin or other substance, device, intervention, etc. mentioned in posts on this website, or other internet venues referenced in posts on this website.
  • We are not asking for any donations. Do not donate to any entity who says they are raising funds for us.

Cholera Outbreak in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/200909/s2676181.htm

PNG considers state of emergency over dysentery outbreak
PrintEmail
Updated 1 hour 58 minutes ago

The Papua New Guinea Health Minister, Sasa Zibe, is considering declaring a state of emergency in Menyamya District, where media reports say 177 people have died in a triple outbreak of dysentery, influenza and cholera. Mr Zibe has been requested to make the declaration by the Morobe Province governor. Last night the Minister met defence force officials and health experts in Port Moresby. He's also instructed the deputy health secretary to travel to Menyamya from Tewai-Siassi District, where there's an ongoing cholera outbreak.

Presenter: Firmin Nanol
Speaker: Dr Theo Likei, Morobe Provincial Health Adviser, Papua New Guinea
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

I don't understand the bold text - H5N1 has never been reported from PNG, even in animals, and H1N1 has only been reported in a handful of imported cases.

...........?We should already have learnt from bird flu and swine flu situations and I am very frustrated,? he said.
I believe reference is to pandemic plans
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

I don't understand the bold text - H5N1 has never been reported from PNG, even in animals, and H1N1 has only been reported in a handful of imported cases.

Bird flu was identified in chickens on the Indonesian side of the island of New Guinea back in fall of 2006, not far from the PNG border. I suspect there have been cases in PNG which we have never heard about. New Guinea is a very big island with very very little press coverage. Just because it has not been reported doesn't mean it hasn't occurred.
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Angau on alert!

By HAIVETA KIVIA

LAE?s Angau Hospital went on full alert yesterday because cholera-like diarrhoea cases have been reported at the outpatients? department.
?The hospital has alerted a team of medical staff to check cases of diarrhoea to make sure they are not symptoms of diseases such as cholera amid the
outbreak in Wasu area,? acting hospital CEO Dr Polapoi Chalau said yesterday.
Two villages in Wasu in the Sialum district of Finschhafen were hard hit by cholera with eight deaths so far and more than 80 people infected while in the
Menyamya mountains, more than 80 people have died and nearly 3000 are affected by flu and dysentery.
The National Department of Health and the World Health Organisation have been flying medical supplies into Wasu to combat the outbreak. Medical teams are
already in Menyamya waiting for helicopters to fly them to remote villages.
Dr Chalau said in a statement the hospital had activated a management plan in collaboration with the PNG Defence Force?s engineering battalion from Igam and
the international medical mission, Doctors Without Borders.
Sappers from the army battalion yesterday erected three field hospital tents and a command centre in preparation for the airlift of seriously ill dysentery
and influenza patients from Menyamya.

[snip]

http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20090904/frhome.htm
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

The above article continues with:

Meanwhile, two medical experts yesterday warned that cholera was more common in adults and without any medical intervention, it could kill a person within
four to six hours.
Deputy Health Secretary and physician Dr Paison Dakulala and World Health Organisation’s (WHO) public health specialist Dr Rajendra Yadav told the
Post-Courier that all the deaths at Wasu in Morobe province were adults from the villages of Nambariwa and Lambutina.
The latest casualty on Tuesday was a young man in his late teens from Nambariwa village.
Dr Dakulala and Dr Yadav also raised concern that abuse of common antibiotics like amoxicillin, septrin and chloramphenicol had made the “shigella bacteria”
in dysentery cases in Menyamya resistant to the first line antibiotics.
Dr Dakulala said they would be sending new drugs like norfloxicillin and ciprofloxicillin for oral intervention and cephalosporin antibiotic for intravenous
intervention to Menyamya.
He said that Dr Jack Marcus from Angau hospital’s rural health unit was leading the medical team in Menyamya and once they had the drugs they should contain
the outbreak.

Dr Yadav also said that the cholera outbreak in Wasu was easier to treat than the dysentery outbreak in Menyamya because of the fact that a cholera infected
person passes out all the infection through the watery faeces and within one or two hours of medical intervention is up and well.
A person infected with dysentery will need antibiotics for some days before they can fully recover.
He said with cholera, an infected person continuously passed watery faeces and lost all essential chemicals and electrolytes in his body, and became
dehydrated and and eventually died.
Dr Yadav, who is from India where cholera is more common, said the disease was a more severe form of diarrhea and a person continuously passes waste as if a
water tap is turned on and within four to six hours without proper intervention, the person would die.
He said it was new in PNG and particularly in Wasu, and the deaths could have been prevented if the people had Oral Rehydration Solutions (ORS).
He said when dealing with cholera, people must have access to boiled clean water, eat clean and hot food, must wash hands after visiting the toilet, must
always have clean surfaces, prevent flies by digging pit latrines or toilets and properly dispose of any exposed faeces.
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=48901

Posted at 02:14 on 04 September, 2009 UTC
Angau Hospital in Lae in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe province has gone on full alert because cholera-like diarrhoea cases have been reported at the outpatients? department.

Cholera has been affecting villages in Wasu on Morobe?s north coast where eight people have died and more than 80 people are infected.
Meanwhile, further inland in Morobe?s Menyamya area, at least 80 people have died and nearly 3000 are affected by flu and dysentery.

The Post Courier reports that the National Department of Health and the WHO have been flying medical supplies into Wasu to combat the cholera outbreak, while medical teams are already in Menyamya waiting for helicopters to fly them to remote villages.

Angau Hospital has erected three field hospitals and a command centre in preparation for the airlift of seriously ill dysentery and influenza patients from Menyamya.
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

PNG politician says slow disease response shows need for public sector change

Posted at 02:14 on 04 September, 2009 UTC

Papua New Guinea?s Deputy Opposition Leader is backing Health Minister Sasa Zibe?s claims that public servants are to blame for the slow response to the epidemics in Morobe Province.

Illness in two isolated zones of the province have already claimed dozens of lives and officials fear more could die.

Mr Zibe had wanted a state of emergency declared yesterday(thursday) but says what he calls lazy officials had not furnished him with the necessary information.

Deputy Opposition Leader, Bart Philemon, who is a Morobe MP, says the country is weighed down by an expensive bureaucracy which is not delivering.

Mr Philemon wants to see a re-structuring of the public service on two fronts.

?One front is to re-adjust the proportion of funds that we allocate for recurrent costs as against those for goods and services and development, and secondly we have to develop training to get more effective use out of our work force. We have seventy thousand, over seventy thousands public servants - we are paying them and not getting results out on the ground.?
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

PNG considers state of emergency over dysentery outbreak

The Papua New Guinea Health Minister, Sasa Zibe, is considering declaring a state of emergency in Menyamya District, where media reports say 177 people have died in a triple outbreak of dysentery, influenza and cholera. Mr Zibe has been requested to make the declaration by the Morobe Province governor. Last night the Minister met defence force officials and health experts in Port Moresby. He's also instructed the deputy health secretary to travel to Menyamya from Tewai-Siassi District, where there's an ongoing cholera outbreak.
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Angau on alert!

By HAIVETA KIVIA

LAE?s Angau Hospital went on full alert yesterday because cholera-like diarrhoea cases have been reported at the outpatients? department.
?The hospital has alerted a team of medical staff to check cases of diarrhoea to make sure they are not symptoms of diseases such as cholera amid the
outbreak in Wasu area,? acting hospital CEO Dr Polapoi Chalau said yesterday.
Two villages in Wasu in the Sialum district of Finschhafen were hard hit by cholera with eight deaths so far and more than 80 people infected while in the
Menyamya mountains, more than 80 people have died and nearly 3000 are affected by flu and dysentery.
The National Department of Health and the World Health Organisation have been flying medical supplies into Wasu to combat the outbreak. Medical teams are
already in Menyamya waiting for helicopters to fly them to remote villages.
Dr Chalau said in a statement the hospital had activated a management plan in collaboration with the PNG Defence Force?s engineering battalion from Igam and
the international medical mission, Doctors Without Borders.
Sappers from the army battalion yesterday erected three field hospital tents and a command centre in preparation for the airlift of seriously ill dysentery
and influenza patients from Menyamya.

[snip]

http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20090904/frhome.htm

It seems that they are more consistently differentiating cholera and dysentery and make reference to antibiotic treatment in some reports.

"Dysentery" may be defined as diarrhea containing blood and mucus, as opposed to the watery diarrhea of cholera. There are multiple bacterial and protozoal causes for dysentery (as more strictly defined).

They are referring to using antibiotics, suggesting bacterial infection, however the cause of this particular aspect of the outbreak has not apparently been identified in the media reports.
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Clarification of the geography of the island of New Guinea.

New Guinea, located north of Australia, is the world's second largest island. It became separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period. The name Papua has long been associated with the island. The western half of the island contains the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua, while the eastern half forms the mainland of the independent country of Papua New Guinea.
from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Guinea

Western New Guinea belongs to Indonesia and eastern New Guinea is the independent state of Papua New Guinea.

In 2003, the Indonesian central government declared that the province {Western New Guinea} would be split into three provinces: Papua Province, Central Irian Jaya Province, and West Irian Jaya Province. Opposition to this resulted in the plan for Central Irian Jaya province being scrapped, and even the designation of West Irian Jaya Province is still legally unclear. Despite this, the West Irian Jaya (Irian Jaya Barat) province was formed on February 6, 2006, and the name was officially changed to West Papua (Papua Barat) on February 7, 2007. The independent sovereign state of Papua New Guinea (PNG) borders Papua Province to the east.
Islandof New Guinea 20090903.webp
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/397

Cholera alert in Lae
Source:
The National
SEVEN victims, believed to be suffering from cholera, have been rushed by dinghy from Wasu to the Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae yesterday.
And as a result, Angau has been placed on high alert and was declared a disease command and control centre.
Angau has also placed a disaster management plan into operation with the assistance of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force and the Medecins Sans Frontieres.
The move is aimed at controlling the outbreak of cholera in Wasu in the Tewai-Siassi district and, apparently, dysentery and influenza outbreak in Menyamya.
Angau?s acting chief executive officer, Dr Polapoi Chalau, said yesterday the plan would complement the work and investigation now undertaken by deputy Health secretary Dr Paison Dakulala and the Morobe provincial administration.All over Lae yesterday afternoon, health awareness workers were going around the city?s markets and bus stops telling people to take care.
They were distributing pamphlets and telling the people that cholera, as well as dysentery, were diseases that were ?worse than AIDS? because of the extremely quick rate of death after infection.
Angau has tightened its security since the seven from Wasu were admitted to the emergency unit.
Efforts to enter the hospital last night were denied.
Security personnel at the entrance said visitors were also asked to limit the number of people going in to see sick relatives.
Dr Chalau had issued a grave warning at mid-day yesterday.
?Anyone suspected to be inflicted with the disease should undergo further tests and medical check-ups and seek treatment as soon as possible.
?It is strongly recommended that individuals must take common sense precautions,? he said.
?If you are not aware of different aspects of the diseases, make an effort to go to your nearest clinics and get informed.?
By late afternoon, Dr Chalau and Morobe health division officials Dr Likei Theo and Micah Yawing were meeting with provincial executives.
It is understood Dr Dakulala was also present.
In the meantime, provincial administration and health officials who had gone into Menyamya on Wednesday had returned.
They will be travelling again to Menyamya today.
There are no means of communication with Menyamya except by VHF radio.
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=48902

Death toll from epidemics in PNG soars to more than 400
Posted at 05:42 on 04 September, 2009 UTC

The Papua New Guinea government is being urged to declare a state of emergency immediately as the death toll from epidemics in a remote province soars to more than four-hundred people.

The Governor of Morobe Province, Luther Wenge, says eye witness reports say almost 300 people have now died from an outbreak of flu and dysentery in the inaccesible district of Menyamya, while another 114 people have died from cholera in the coastal villages of Tewai-Siassi.

The Health Minister Sasa Zibe says he wants a state of emergency to be declared but does not yet have enough information from officials to seek such a declaration.

But Luther Wenge says the information he is receiving from people on the ground leaves him in no doubt a state of emergency must be declared immediately so resources can be freed up to treat people.

?Act now, act now. You can from those information you can make a decision and then provide money so that doctors and nurses and all the appropriate people must get in now because as a matter of fact people are dying, there?s no question about it, people are dying in fifties and hundreds.?
Luther Wenge says the provincial government has no money to cope with the epidemics as its already spent it on other disasters in the province.

News Content ? Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/200909/s2677112.htm

PNG Morobe hospital on high alert for killer diseases


Papua New Guinea's Angau Hospital in the Morobe Province is on high alert to treat people affected by the outbreak of three killer diseases - dysentery, flu and cholera. Local reports say up to 177 people have died in the remote Menyamya and Tewai Siassi Districts of Morobe Province in the past month. Among the dead were PNG's first known cases of Cholera in over 50 years. PNG Health Officials say more than 3000 people have been ill from the outbreak so far. The Chief Executive Officer of Lae's Angau hospital, Doctor Polapoi Chalau says an emergency control centre has been established to treat patients suspected of contracting Cholera.

Presenter: Firmin Nanol
Speaker: PNG's Angau Hospital Chief Executive Officer, Doctor Polapoi Chalau

* Listen:
* Windows Media

CHALAU: As part of the plan as you know we would receiving those who are ill from the infection, so as part of the overall plan in collaboration with the Provincial Disaster Committee, our plan for the hospital is to ensure that we have got an emergency plan in place which we put into action yesterday and this is the action plan is put by the hospital management in conjunction with our PNG defence force and the Doctors Without Borders, who are here. And because of the experience with this MSF or Medical or Medicine San Frontier, or Doctors Without Borders, they have been able to assist us in providing the actions that we are now undertaking in the hospital. So we've initiated that.

We have already put up an isolation ward where we are currently treating the victims at the moment and we have now established a tent, almost a military like hospital in the hospital area in anticipation for any more increase in the number of cases that may arrive at the hospital. So that is really basically done as part of the overall plan.

The rest of this is going to be coordinated and managed through the central command with Dr Theo heading the emergency task force of the province.

NANOL: Dr Chalau as I would explain now at this very point in time, could you confirm or tell us how many people are suspected of cholera been admitted to the Angau Hospital?

CHALAU: Yes, at the moment as I said we have received so far, a few have come in and gone, so we have about six patients at the moment in the hospital who are receiving intravenous fluid. So they are being treated with a lot of fluid, that's basically what we are doing in here. Meaning that they have not been able to take anything by mouth, because they are quite sick.

NANOL: Is that of dysentery and flu or cholera?

CHALAU: No, they are all having very massive diarrhoea, so we have yet to still get samples, confirmation of our samples, so we are still waiting for the results to come.

NANOL: Oh I see.

CHALAU: We are treating as cholera until they are proven otherwise.

NANOL: Are you expecting any more persons or people or being admitted to the Angau Hospital with such symptoms like dysentery, flu and cholera?

NANOL: Yes, well are just monitoring with a central command and so we have to be prepared. So whether regardless of whether more outbreaks are coming or not, but we have initiated our response so we are prepared for anything that may come.
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Poor hygiene is cause of cholera outbreak

Source:
The National


Lambutina and Nambariwa are two vastly populated villages along with other hamlets inhabited by the Sio people in Wasu LLG, Tewai-Siassi district.
Almost all households in these villages do not have a toilet.
After the kiap era where hygiene used to be strictly observed, these people have been using the bushes and sea when nature calls.
The locals did not heed the calls by the Government and church leaders to practise proper health care.
Producing and consuming illegal substances like drugs and homebrew are rampant in these villages.
Stealing from gardens and other petty crimes are rampant and widespread as there is no law and order.
Disaster was waiting to happen and it did.
I am sorry for the ill-equipped and unprepared staff of Etep rural hospital as they were the nearest to ground zero.
I commend our new young doctor Ule Mongo (OIC), nursing officers and CHWs for putting up a brave fight against a dangerous epidemic caused by sheer stupidity and ignorance.

JJ_Zoriong
Wasu:tiphat:http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/381
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province


Morobe?s Angau Hospital on full alert in response to disease outbreak

Angau Hospital in Lae in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe province has gone on full alert because cholera-like diarrhoea cases have been reported at the outpatients? department.
Cholera has been affecting villages in Wasu on Morobe?s north coast where eight people have died and more than 80 people are infected.
Meanwhile, further inland in Morobe?s Menyamya area, at least 80 people have died and nearly 3000 are affected by flu and dysentery.
The Post Courier reports that the National Department of Health and the WHO have been flying medical supplies into Wasu to combat the cholera outbreak, while medical teams are already in Menyamya waiting for helicopters to fly them to remote villages.
Angau Hospital has erected three field hospitals and a command centre in preparation for the airlift of seriously ill dysentery and influenza patients from Menyamya.{RNZ}:tiphat:http://philippe-voiceofmelanesia-philippe.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html

 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province


politician says slow disease response shows need for public sector change

Posted at 02:14 on 04 September, 2009 UTC
Papua New Guinea?s Deputy Opposition Leader is backing Health Minister Sasa Zibe?s claims that public servants are to blame for the slow response to the epidemics in Morobe Province.
Illness in two isolated zones of the province have already claimed dozens of lives and officials fear more could die.
Mr Zibe had wanted a state of emergency declared yesterday(thursday) but says what he calls lazy officials had not furnished him with the necessary information.
Deputy Opposition Leader, Bart Philemon, who is a Morobe MP, says the country is weighed down by an expensive bureaucracy which is not delivering.
Mr Philemon wants to see a re-structuring of the public service on two fronts.
?One front is to re-adjust the proportion of funds that we allocate for recurrent costs as against those for goods and services and development, and secondly we have to develop training to get more effective use out of our work force. We have seventy thousand, over seventy thousands public servants - we are paying them and not getting results out on the ground.? {RNZ}:tiphat:http://philippe-voiceofmelanesia-philippe.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html

 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province




<!--headlinesBar--><!--headlinesRelated-->

AUDIO from Pacific Beat

Firmin Nanol talks to the the Morobe Provincial Health Adviser about the dysentery outbreak. <OBJECT class=player_mp3 data="http://www.abc.net.au/australianetwork/flash/player_mp3.swf" width=285 height=41 type=application/x-shockwave-flash></OBJECT>


Created: Fri, 4 Sep11:55:39 EDT 2009:tiphat:http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/200909/2675850.htm?desktop
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Attached audio file listed in Treyfish's post.
 

Attachments

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Guv?s prayers

GOVERNOR Wenge, his province under siege by cholera, dysentery and influenza, received a call from a clergyman yesterday asking for an appointment. ?Please
pastor, ?? the Guv replies, ?my people are dying in the mountains and I am very worried, tell all your pastors to pray for the people of Menyamya and Wasu.?:tiphat:http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20090904/frhome.htm
 
Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/395

Health dept to submit budget
Source:
WALLACE KIALA
A PRELIMINARY budget submission by the Health Department to carry out full-scale surveillance and containment of influenza and dysentery outbreak in Menyamya and cholera outbreak in Tewai-Siassi is expected to be presented to the health minister today.
Deputy Health secretary Dr Paison Dakulala, who is in charge of setting up the Lae diseases outbreak control and command centre, told The National last night upon his return to Port Moresby that the entire medical relief exercise was estimated to cost the Government some K1 million.
Dr Dakulala visited several Wasu LLG villages yesterday.
He said he could not comment further on what urgent measures the Government would be taking but the department was advising the minister to declare disaster zones in the affected areas.
Dr Dakulala said reports on the situation on ground zero and to determine disaster zones had been sent to the minister earlier yesterday.
?We (senior executive management) will be meeting tonight to prepare a budget for surveillance and containment and awareness in the affected areas,? he said.
Meanwhile, medical teams from Port Moresby are expected to be in the disease-stricken areas of Menyamya and Tewai-Siassi today to assist provincial health authorities contain the spread of the deadly infections and set up health command posts.
Technical personnel from Health Department, World Health Organisation, M?decins Sans Fronti?res, National Disaster Centre, police and Defence will make up the teams.
Reports from the national surveillance control and command centre in Port Moresby reported nine people died from cholera in Wasu LLG while in Menyamya, the dysentery and influenza death toll was still at 177.



Fri, 04/09/2009 - 09:35 | mlipen -Add new comment | Tags: National, Normal
 
Back
Top Bottom