Paniai outbreak's cause still unclear

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

The government has not yet identified the cause of an outbreak that has killed 97 babies in Papua's Paniai regency during the past two months, health workers said.

"We have received a report that a team of private doctors are treating patients in the area, but we haven't heard from them yet," Papua Health Office deputy head Bagus Sukaswara said.

A team of doctors from the American-owned Freeport Mine in Tembagapura, Timika, has gone to six districts in Paniai affected by the sickness, which causes symptoms such as chronic diarrhea, vomiting and high fevers.

They had treated hundreds of patients during the past few days and some doctors had already returned to Tembagapura, Bagus said.

Bagus promised the government would soon follow suit and send two nurses from Jayapura to join Dr. Aron, the director of Paniai Hospital in Enarotali, the capital of Paniai. The two nurses would fly to Timika from Jayapura and then travel on to Paniai.

"The two nurses and Dr. Aron will go to the six districts on Monday and they will begin to examine the causes behind the outbreak and also to treat local residents," said Paminto Widodo, the coordinator of the Papua Health Crisis Center.

Paminto speculated the illness had hit the area due to poor sanitation. Inadequate and late treatment had probably led to the large number of fatalities, Paminto said.

"There is a report that there are only two nurses in a community health center in the area. Besides a lack of manpower, the health center also lacks medicines."

The sickness had struck hundreds of residents, mostly infants and toddlers.

"These diseases are common but become fatal in the absence of proper medical treatment," Lana Oyong, a doctor from Tembagapura, Timika, who helped treat local resident for three days until Dec. 15. He also would not specify what the diseases were.

Death rates are often high in the province from common bacterial infections in contaminated food or water.

Rev. John Cutts from Kemah Injil Church in the area said that companies, hospitals and non-governmental organizations in Paniai had begun channeling medical and food aid to residents.

Cutts said no one was to blame for the slow and late medical treatment that led to the high death rate, because the districts were located in remote areas.

They could only be reached by plane, impeding rescue and treatment efforts, he said.