Diarrhea outbreak in Bekasi claims 4 lives

JAKARTA (JP): At least four people died and more than 200 were hospitalized due to an outbreak of diarrhea in the Bekasi area east of Jakarta over the past week, a local administration source said yesterday.

According to the official, the epidemic broke out in the neighboring villages of Sriamur, Srimukti, Satria Mekar, and Srijaya.

Most of the victims were reported to be between one and 15- years-old.

Since the beginning of the outbreak more than a week ago until Monday, the number of victims has risen to 175, with 28 more reported hospitalized yesterday.

The official confirmed that the epidemic drastically surged over the past week. To handle emergency assistance operations the local administration has opened a round-the-clock service post located in Sriamur village.

The administration is also providing healthy-living information to the local population.

According to Dr. Erwan Hidayat, the head of the local health office which is in charge of coping with the epidemic, the disease is believed to have originated in contaminated food, water and other beverages such as syrup consumed by the local villagers.

Erwan said that the water used for the syrup might have been unboiled. Most of the victims are reported to be children.

The four victims who were reported to have died were identified as Bonih (15), Rosadi (3), Sani (60), and Neneng (15). The death was reportedly caused by a lack of fluids in their bodies. (01).