Diarrhea outbreak kills three in East Lombok

Panca Nugraha ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Mataram   |  Tue, 04/28/2009 12:54 PM  |  The Archipelago

A diarrhea outbreak in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, has continued to spread throughout the last week, with three of the nearly 900 people afflicted by the infection having died as of Monday.

The Head of the Community and Environmental Disease Control at the provincial health agency, Ida Bagus Jelantik, told reporters that the outbreak originated in East Lombok on April 13 and intensified in the past week.

"As many as 170 of the approximately 900 patients are still being treated. Three patients have reportedly died from the disease and a status of extraordinary occurrence is still being imposed," said Jelantik.

The outbreak has spread to the Sambelia, Swela, Pringgarata, Wanasaba, Aikmel, Labuhan Haji and Labuhan Lombok districts in East Lombok, with each community health center (Puskesmas) in the districts treating around 25 patients, mainly adults.

Three patients have been reported as deceased, two at the Batuyang Puskesmas in Pringgarata district and one at the Belanting Puskesmas in Sambelia district.

According to Jelantik, patients have not been referred on to the Selong Hospital in East Lombok because the Puskesmas are managing the situation effectively and sufficiently.

"The East Lombok health agency has also put the emergency response teams in every Puskesmas in the eight districts on standby, while the provincial health agency has provided extra supplies, such as intravenous drips and medicines," he said.

Although patients have shown symptoms of cholera, the provincial health agency believes the outbreak is in fact diarrhea, though is waiting on the results of rectal-swab tests taken from 15 patients before making official confirmation.

Jelantik said the spread of the infection in East Lombok mainly took place in areas along two major rivers originating from Mount Rinjani. Due to unhygienic personal practices, he said, the disease spread rapidly among the communities.

"Based on observations from our health officers, communities living in those areas still consume water from the river without boiling or purifying it first," he said.

"This is hazardous to an individual's overall health because they use their river for washing their clothes, bathing and defecating."

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