Irian Jaya: 40 die of "malaria"

[alert]

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/06/09/malaria-outbreak-kills-40-papua-highland-report.html

Malaria outbreak kills 40 in Papua highland: Report
Nethy Darma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua | Wed, 06/09/2010 4:28 PM | Archipelago
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Papua health agency has sent a four-strong team to Intan Jaya regency to verify reports of malaria outbreak which is said to have killed 40 people in the highland region over the last three months.

Team member Paminto Widodo of the Papua Health Crisis Center said Wednesday the medical workers would focus their mission on Degesiga and Bamba villages, where the disease reportedly affected the most.

?We will examine whether the people died of malaria or other diseases. Malaria usually does not spread in regions located at a high altitude with a cool temperature,? Paminto said, adding that the team would check if the people who were killed by the disease had never left the regency.

The regional health agency has conducted fogging to prevent the disease from spreading across the regency.

Papua legislative council member Julius Miagoni, who reported the outbreak to the health authorities, said the fatalities resulting from malaria were first detected in April.

 

[alert]

Re: Irian Jaya: 40 die of "malaria"

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/06/10/alleged-malaria-outbreak-under-investigation.html

Alleged malaria outbreak under investigation
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura | Thu, 06/10/2010 10:21 AM | The Archipelago
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The Papua Health Agency has set up a team to investigate a malaria outbreak in Intan Jaya regency, where 40 people have reportedly died from the mosquito-borne disease.

Coordinator of Papua Health Crisis Center (HCC) Paminto Widodo, said the team, which comprised of four members including himself, would depart to the two subdistricts of Degesiga and Bamba, where death tolls were reportedly highest over recent months.

?We will re-examine and retest to make sure that these [40] people really died from malaria,? said Paminto.

Other team members were Ary Pongtiku, Made Gafar and Neny Mulyani.

Malaria, a serious infectious disease spread by certain mosquitoes, is most common in tropical climates and is characterized by recurrent symptoms, such as chills, fever and an enlarged spleen.

Paminto said that a report filed by the Intan Jaya Health Agency confirmed the victims had tested positive to Malaria.

However, he said, the regency?s geographical situation, which is relatively high and cold with temperatures between 10 and 15 degrees, was not a suitable place for malaria to grow.

?More thorough research is needed,? Paminto said.

One of the examined factors, he said, included whether the victims had traveled outside their villages.

?It?s quite possible they contracted malaria while traveling in other regions such as Nabire, a malaria-endemic area,? he said.

He said that if the victims were later proven to have never left their subdistricts, then the outbreak would be a new phenomenon the emergence of mountain range malaria.

He said the team would also look into the possibility that the number of dead victims listed in the report was an accumulation of deaths from previous years ? and had not occurred over a short period of time.

Paminto said that three deaths in three months in a subdistrict would still be considered normal.

?That is the reason why the team will go directly to subdistricts with the highest number of deaths reported in the last month [to find out the real figure],? he said.

As a precaution, he said that the team had also coordinated with the Intan Jaya Health Agency to
conduct fogging in the region.

The secretary of the Papua legislative council?s Commission A overseeing health, Julius Miagoni, told reporters that the deaths of the 40 people occurred over three months ? from April to June.

 

[alert]

Re: Irian Jaya: 40 die of "malaria"

edit

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/apex/..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,83188

Archive Number 20100611.1965
Published Date 11-JUN-2010
Subject PRO/EDR> Malaria - Indonesia: (PA) susp. RFI


MALARIA - INDONESIA: (PAPUA) SUSPECTED, 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 9 Jun 2010
Source: The Jakarta Post
<http: www.thejakartapost.com="" news="" 2010="" 06="" 09="" malaria-outbreak-kills-40-papua-highland-report.html="">


Papua health agency has sent a 4-strong team to Intan Jaya regency to
verify reports of malaria outbreak which is said to have killed 40
people in the highland region over the last 3 months.

Team member Paminto Widodo of the Papua Health Crisis Center said
Wednesday [9 Jun 2010] the medical workers would focus their mission
on Degesiga and Bamba villages, where the disease reportedly affected
the most. "We will examine whether the people died of malaria or other
diseases.

Malaria usually does not spread in regions located at a high altitude
with a cool temperature," Paminto said, adding that the team would
check if the people who were killed by the disease had never left the
regency.

The regional health agency has conducted fogging to prevent the
disease from spreading across the regency.

Papua legislative council member Julius Miagoni, who reported the
outbreak to the health authorities, said the fatalities resulting from
malaria were first detected in April [2010].

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail



[Intan Jaya regency is located in Papua (formerly Irian Jaya)
province, the Indonesian western half of the island of New Guinea. The
article mentions that the 2 villages are located at an altitude which
usually excludes malaria transmission. ProMED-mail has not be able to
precisely locate the place of the outbreak. The malaria diagnosis is
not confirmed, but if it is malaria the most obvious explanation would
be that the infected persons visited areas with transmission and got
infected. ProMED-mail will be happy to post further information. -
Mod.EP]</promed@promedmail.org></http:></http:></http:>

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: Irian Jaya: 40 die of "malaria"

Malaria outbreak of Tropical Homeyo Serang District, 40 People Killed

Tuesday, June 8, 2010 | 17:27 pm

TEMPO Interactive, Jayapura - As many as 40 residents residing in four villages namely Kampung Maya, Mapa, Samepa, and Bilay Homeyo District, District Intan Jaya, Papua died of tropical disease malaria.
According to members of the Papua People's Representative Council, Julius Miagoni, the temperature was very cold regions, ranging up to 8 degrees Celsius. "The epidemic occurred during the last three months, from April to June this month," he said when met reporters at the Parliament Building in Papua, Tuesday (8 / 6).

According to Julius, tropical malaria in the area also resulted in local residents have crippled and crazy, because it attacks the brain nerves. "Power consists of the medical orderlies were already there, but the drugs they have already started thinning. We hope to have the attention of local government, "said Julius, which is representative of Intan Jaya electoral district.

Meanwhile, to go to the local district can only be traversed with Homeyo small aircraft. But sometimes the aircraft is also difficult to penetrate into the area because it was blocked by bad weather. "D idaerah weather conditions were very extreme, making a weak immune citizens,''he said.

The outbreak could have spread to surrounding villages, if not immediately get serious handlers from the local government. "The number of victims will continue to grow if not immediately addressed," he said.
Intan Jaya District only three years old, which is a division of Paniai District. Its location in the Middle Mountains region of Papua and very difficult to reach because it uses only transport aircraft.

While the district population is estimated to amount to ten thousands of Homeo soul and most of them live on mountain slopes.

http://www.tempointeraktif.com/hg/nusa_lainnya/2010/06/08/brk,20100608-253637,id.html

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: Irian Jaya: 40 die of "malaria"

I believe that Intan Jaya Regency was previously called Paniai Regency as show on the map below. The second map shows the general location of the Homeyo District where the 40 individuals are reported to have died.




map link:http://www.papuaweb.org/gb/peta/kpu/paniai.pdf

General link to maps of Papua:

http://www.papuaweb.org/gb/peta/index.html

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Irian Jaya: 40 die of "malaria"

Malaria epidemics in the highlands of Papua happened before. For instance:

"Although most of the Papua New Guinea highlands are too high for stable malaria transmission, local epidemics are a regular feature of the region.

Few detailed descriptions of such epidemics are available, however.

We describe the investigation of a malaria epidemic in the Obura Valley, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea"

.....

..an outside introduction of P. falciparum as the most likely source of the epidemic.

http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/abstract/67/5/459



Also:

"..malaria epidemics are a serious and increasing public health problem in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. "

http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/abstract/72/5/554