Cholera outbreak strains health services in Lampung

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung

The rain, for some people is not always a boon, and the torrential rains that have hammered Bandarlampung over the past week have also brought with them new problems, specifically cholera.

The storm in a number of subdistricts in Sukarame, North and West Telukbetung and Panjang districts last Thursday, for instance, swamped houses and the water level remains at 50 to 80 centimeters in some places. It was the second flood in two weeks to submerge the area and one result has been a cholera outbreak, which is often accompanied by symptoms of extremely severe diarrhea.

"Most of the cholera sufferers are those from flooded areas, as the sanitary conditions are quite poor," said Dr. Reliani, director of Abdoel Moeloek General Hospital in Bandarlampung, capital of Lampung province.

Those affected by cholera, a serious bacterial infection that attacks the intestines and can be extremely contagious, included residents who have relied on tap water from Way Rilau, the state- owned tap water company.

Two-year-old Nurjanah, has been lying in the hospital since Wednesday, although her family was using tap water from the company. Doctors surmised that she became ill because the tap water was not working, and she may have ingested foul, flood water.

We've been forced to wash our clothes and perform our daily ablutions in the river, because the tap water has not been running for the past month," said Nurjanah's father Misdan, 38, a resident of Mesuji, Tulangbawang regency.

According to Misdan, more than half of the area's residents used the water from the swollen Way Mesuji and Way Tulangbawang rivers, even though both have become murky and polluted by industrial and household waste.

Managing director of the Way Rilau tap water company, Sudjaswadi, said that they were not able to fulfill the needs of customers because the company was facing a shortage of water.

In addition to the damage to catchment areas and rivers, which are the source of water for the company, four main pipes have broken, greatly exacerbating the problems, he added.

Data at the Abdoel Moeloek hospital showed that four children under the age of five had died from complications related to severe diarrhea, believed to be cholera, over the past two weeks. Two were from Bandarlampung city and the two others from Tulangbawang regency.

There have been more than 40 children treated for cholera since Nov. 19, while around 3,000 children were reportedly suffering from severe diarrhea in a number of regencies and municipalities. Thousands in Tulangbawang regency fell ill after consuming river water.

Besides patients with severe diarrhea, of which the specific disease was not known, a number of hospitals in Bandarlampung have diagnosed cholera in dozens of patients over the last week. The Urip Sumaharjo General Hospital has been treating 50 children with cholera, three more were reported at the Abdoel Moeloek hospital and two more at the Advent Hospital.

Reliani projected a steep increase in the number of cholera cases as the flooding would continue in the province over the next few days and weeks.

Bandarlampung's Health Office chief, Sudarman, said most of those affected by cholera were generally children below five.

The number of patients at government hospitals or clinics complaining of severe diarrhea reached 1,900 in August, 1,600 in September, 1,500 in October and 1,300 patients from Nov. 1 to Nov. 23.