Cholera outbreak at Papua New Guinea a serious threat

Cholera is a very dangerous disease that spreads through epidemic behaviour and engages victims in large numbers. There is a cholera outbreak on the Papua New Guinea side of the Torres Strait which has been contained. However, officials in charge of health and administration presume that the deadly bacteria is now going inland. The Papua New Guinea Department of Health officials have reported that about 30 villagers on Daru, a tiny remote island off PNG’s Western Province Coast, have died from cholera while about a 1000 are infected and diagnosed with cholera.

Cholera, in which about 10 percent of the cases develop serious complications, is a water-borne disease that spreads rapidly through food, water sources and insect infestations.

The cholera outbreak which started in September around the North-Eastern coast of Papua New Guinea has now migrated to other regions like Daru. A critical relief operation is being run to assist and aid these victims and health officials in these regions with essential supplies, primarily headed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and AusAID. Early misdiagnosis on Daru led the health officials to believe that the symptoms were related to typhoid. However, this caused wider spread of the disease and slowed down the response by health officials who later diagnosed the disease to provide more of cholera’s symptoms. Villagers travelling to and from Daru through sea and air aided in the spread of the disease as well. With efforts underway to restrict and reduce the disease’s influence on the southern coast, the disease that exhibits diarrhoea-like conditions is now receiving better co-ordinated response across the region.

The Australian Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, has stated that Australia will be giving an additional $500,000 in order to provide necessary medical supplies and clean water to the region, over and above the $1.7 million already provided to contain the disease that has claimed over 100 lives so far.