Team sent to probe Wamena epidemic

Team sent to probe Wamena epidemic

JAKARTA (JP): The government has sent a medical team to Irian
Jaya villages where an epidemic, marked with vomiting up blood
and respiratory problems, has reportedly killed 177 people.

Hadi M. Abednego of the Ministry of Health, said yesterday
that the team, consisting of two doctors and five paramedics, has
been sent to Brome and Ndugwa villages, Wamena district,
Jayawijaya regency, to investigate the cause and actual number of
victims of the epidemic known locally as wabah babi.

The term literally means "pig epidemic" and was reportedly
caused by a virus spread by pigs. It was not immediately clear
when the epidemic first broke out and the deaths occurred.

Hadi, who is director general of Communicable Disease Control
and Environmental Health, however, admitted he was not certain
whether pigs caused the fatalities.

"The cause could be anything, from dengue, diarrhea, poor
sanitation or any virus from local animals, such as pigs," he
told The Jakarta Post.

Head of the provincial health office, Slamet S. Harjosuwarno,
also said he could not confirm whether there really was an
epidemic or whether it was caused by pigs.

He also could not say whether the fatalities were as high as
reported. He suspected that it was really a disease of the
respiratory tract that affected the villagers.

Kompas daily reported yesterday that 177 people have died in
the epidemic, the symptoms of which were difficulty in breathing
and vomiting up blood. It quoted Jayawijaya Regent JB Wenas as
saying that medical help arrived too late because the reports
came in too late.

Due to the lack of telecommunication facilities, reports of
the epidemic reached the local health authorities through
couriers who had to travel through difficult terrain.

Wenas said on Monday that the report of the deaths of 120
Brome residents reached him on Friday, while the report on the
remaining 57 fatalities in Ndugwa came on Monday.

He added that a local doctor in Brome, another from Oksibil
district as well as a paramedic worked to help the victims.

When asked about the small number of doctors and paramedics
sent, given the magnitude of the problem, Hadi said that the
ministry is quite familiar with the region and its problems.

The ministry, he said, has conducted a number of health
surveys there and concluded that "the most important thing is the
quality of the team".

He criticized the Kompas report because it failed to say the
period during which the epidemic and the deaths took place and,
therefore, created public panic.

"Did the 177 deaths occur in two months, a year, or longer?"
he said. (31)