Dysentery claims two lives in East Nusa Tenggara, dozens ill
Dysentery claims two lives in East Nusa Tenggara, dozens ill
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang
At least two people have died and 64 others are receiving medical
treatment due to an outbreak of dysentery in Nangahale village,
Talibura district in Sikka regency, East Nusa Tenggara in the
past week.
The victims might have consumed water contaminated with human
feces and E-coli bacteria as a result of the prolonged drought,
local health officials said on Monday.
Sikka health office head Henyo Kerong said that his office has
established health posts to help prevent the spread of the
disease, while taking care of the afflicted in nearby community
health centers and hospitals.
According to him, the dysentery outbreak intensified last
week, and within a period of just a few days it claimed the lives
of two patients, identified as Mustahir, 29, and Genoveva, 31.
"They lost a lot of fluids as they did not receive treatment
in time," Henyo said.
Most of the 64 being treated are toddlers and children below
the age of 10 years including a nine-month-old infant.
Henyo said that besides consuming contaminated water, the
victims were most probably infected due to the poor hygiene in
the affected village.
"As a preventive measure, medical teams have calcified at
least 100 underground wells that may have been contaminated with
feces and e-coli bacteria," he said.
Last week, at least 26 people, mostly toddlers, died and more
than 200 others fell sick in an outbreak of measles on the remote
island of Alor in East Nusa Tenggara.
Alor Regent Ans Takalapeta said on Monday that to prevent the
disease from spreading further, his administration has formed
command posts and reinforced medical personnel, including three
doctors specially assigned from Jakarta by Minister of Health
Siti Fadilah Supari.
He said that as many as 223 children have been provided with
free medicine and 53 others vaccinated.
The government has also distributed 400 food supplement
packages to restore the stamina of toddlers and children with
measles, the regent added.