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iarrhea has spread rapidly in Polewali Mandar (Polman) regency, killing at least nine people in the past two weeks.

The Polman Health Agency recorded 1,200 cases of diarrhea in the regency, forcing it to declare an emergency situation in Luyo district, which had 396 cases with five fatalities.

"Most victims were sent too late to the hospital for medical treatment," agency head Ayub Ali said Friday.

He said besides Luyo, diarrhea was also prevalent in other districts, including Mapilli, Campalagian and Wonomulyo.

"Diarrhea is endemic in these districts. Last year, the disease also hit the surrounding areas."

From October to December last year, the agency recorded 2,800 cases of diarrhea in the districts with 28 people succumbing to the disease.

Ayub said his agency had conducted several activities to prevent the disease from spreading, such as opening medical posts, providing medical treatment, chlorinating residents' wells and advising people on healthy living.

"The problem is residents are still consuming contaminated river water. It's difficult to chlorinate the river."

He said his agency had taken samples of water that had been consumed by the residents and had sent the samples to a health laboratory in Makassar.

"We want to know the cause of the endemic. We have not yet received the laboratory test results."

However, Ayub claimed the disease was no longer spreading to other areas as the number of people suffering diarrhea had not increased.

Meanwhile, head of disease control at the Polman Health Agency Hartini said diarrhea was on the rise due to the unhealthy habits of the residents, such as drinking water that had been taken from river or wells without boiling it first.

"We have often warned the residents of their habits, but they have not changed their ways. They've done this for years. We suspect such habits have resulted in the spread of diarrhea."

Last week, the Alor Health Agency in the East Nusa Tenggara province also announced an emergency situation in Kalodama village district in Alor regency following the deaths of five residents in four days.

At least 17 residents have suffered diarrhea, mostly due to bad sanitation.

In May, four people have died and more than 1,500 people are seriously ill from an outbreak of diarrhea in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.