No epidemic in Wamena: Minister

No epidemic in Wamena: Minister

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Health Sujudi yesterday denied media reports that an outbreak of upper respiratory disease has killed 177 people in two districts in Wamena, Irian Jaya.

"There is no epidemic in Wamena," Sujudi told The Jakarta Post by phone from Biak, northern Irian Jaya, where he was overseeing the relief aid operation for victims of last month's earthquake.

Sujudi said a team investigating the reports found that the death tolls suggested by the media were the accumulated number of deaths in the two districts since November.

These deaths could not be attributed to any particular outbreak of disease, he said, adding that their causes included influenza, malaria, diseases of the respiratory tract, diarrhea.

The Ministry of Health sent a team from Jakarta to Wamena to follow up on the report which first surface early this week.

Kompas daily, which broke the story, said 177 people died because of health problems marked by difficulty in breathing and vomiting blood. It quoted Jayawijaya Regent JB Wenas as saying that medical help arrived too late because the reports came in late owing to the difficult terrain.

Residents in the Ndugwa and Nongme villages, where the deaths were reported, linked the fatalities to the recent deaths of pigs in the area.

Sujudi said the number of deaths was still uncertain, and that the ministry team from Jakarta is still investigating the matter. (31)