Freeport conducts diarrhea study

Freeport conducts diarrhea study

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: A recent outbreak of diarrhea in West
Mimika district has killed 19, and not 25 people as earlier
reported in the media, copper mining company PT Freeport
Indonesia said Tuesday.

The number was established in an investigation conducted by
the company's public health and malaria control department in
cooperation with the provincial office of the Ministry of Health,
according to Antara.

The investigation was supported by nine medical experts from
the local health office and was conducted in 10 villages such as
Akar, Uta, Wuwuka, Mapar, Kapia, Manoware, Kaar, Poronggo,
Kokonao and Kiyura.

The experts said the diarrhea spread because locals lived in
an unhealthy environment where clean water was scarce.

The diarrhea epidemic struck when people from several villages
came to Kokonao to celebrate Christmas. They built makeshift huts
by the river and polluted the water.

Most of those who died were visitors from outside Kokonao who
drank the polluted water.

The mining company refuted the statement of the chairman of a
local non-governmental cooperation forum, Budi Setyono, that the
diarrhea was caused by polluted water from a mining area. (swe)