Gastroenteritis outbreak claims another life

Irawaty Wardany ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Wed, 04/02/2008 1:57 AM  |  Bali

Despite the decreasing number of gastroenteritis patients admitted to hospital and community health centers in Karangasem, the outbreak claimed another life Monday when a resident of Sibetan village died.

It brought the outbreak's death toll to five. The outbreak also swept into another village, North Duda, bringing the total number of affected villages to 13.

"We received a surge of patients from North Duda village while the number of patients from Sebudi village and Jungutan village, the two initial sites of the outbreak, has significantly decreased," the head of the Bali Health Agency's communicable disease division, I Ketut Subrata, told The Jakarta Post here Tuesday.

According to data from the Karangasem administration, the total number of new patients brought to Karangasem regional hospital and community health centers on Tuesday reached 44.

"Up to 2 p.m. today there were 22 patients brought to Selat health center, with 21 of them becoming outpatients since they only suffered from minor dehydration," administration spokesperson Nyoman Agus Sukasena told the Post.

He said 18 other patients were admitted to Karangasem regional hospital. Another four patients were transferred to Sidemen community health center from Selat community health center, which could not accommodate any more patients.

A total of 399 people have now been admitted to health facilities since the start of the outbreak two weeks ago.

Sukasena said the new fatality was probably caused by the deceased family's slow response to the disease.

"The family didn't bring the victim to the nearest community health center even though the victim had displayed an abnormal pattern of defecation the previous night," he said.

"They brought the victim to a community health center the next day when it was too late. The victim already had major dehydration and the health center's medical personnel couldn't save him," Sukasena said.

Sukasena said health facilities now received an average of 20 new patients every day. They were seeing about 50 patients a day last week.

However, he said authorities would remain on full alert.

"We have set up one more emergency command post in North Duda village, joining the three units we established previously," he said.

The Karangasem administration has also assigned more health officials to Selat and Jungutan villages.

Lying in the eastern part of the island, Karangasem is one of the poorest regions in Bali, with a large number of residents without access to proper sanitation facilities.

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