Curable diseases claim lives

By Sam Vulum

A combination of malaria, pneumonia and dysen tery claimed the lives of about 30 people in the Yapsie area of Telefomin district in the West Sepik Province.

According to Dr John Foote, the medi cal officer in charge of the Baptist Health Services in Telefomin, the people in the Yapsei sub-district had died from diseases normal to the area.

It was earlier reported that several peo ple had died from a “mysterious” disease, raising panic among government authori ties.

Dr Foote said a medical team from his hospital had visited the area and had yet to furnish a written report on the situation. At the time this story went to press, Dr Foote was unable to confirm the number of deaths.

“The ongoing strategy is left to the health team in Yapsei to provide surveil lance and treatment. If necessary, we will send another patrol out to the area.”

He said the dysentery outbreak was probably caused by people drinking con taminated water. The drought had dried up most of the streams and villagers had turned to use alternate water sources which he said were often contaminated with ani mal and human waste.

The government’s Drought Relief Committee coordinator, Peter Barter, told PIM that people did not die of starvation since food had been sent to Yapsei and other areas of Telefomin by air from Madang. He claimed that these people were better fed and cared for than those in other parts of the country.

In another threatening development, a severe outbreak of typhoid at Sairope vil lage in the Kokoda area of the Oro province claimed five lives.

A medical team was dispatched from Kokoda on December 30 when it was first reported. Blood samples tested at the Popondetta General Hospital confirmed positive. The team detected 82 cases with similar symptoms and commenced treat ment. Testing of water samples and venous blood revealed that out of 12 samples, six

were positive typhoid cases. The symp toms were similar to those who died -

severe abdominal pain, vomiting, frequent

diarrhoea and fever.

Those severely affected were hospi talised,and underwent treatment.

Sohe MP and Education Vice Minister Dr John Waiko, whose electorate is also affected, directed the Oro administrator to release a vehicle to the medical team and also requested the list of medical supplies needed. Dr Waiko called on the provincial

health authorities to be on the alert by reg ular contact with their officers at the out stations and aid posts to stop the outbreak before more people died, particularly dur ing and after the drought period.

The drought also forced people to go into the bush to search for edible wild food.

In one case in the Eastern Highlands province, seven members of a family died

from alleged poisoning after eating wild

mushrooms on Christmas Eve. All died within hours of eating the mushrooms four children and three adults.

According to the hospital spokesman

Dr John Millen, as far as he knew, these were the first reported case in the area of

people dying from eating poisonous mush

rooms. In another incident in the nearby

Western Highlands province, an elderly

woman was recovering at the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital from mushroom poi soning. The deaths caused concern among Highlanders for whom mushrooms become part of the diet during this time of the year.

It is widely known that during

Christmas holidays, children collect mush rooms from the bush and sell them at road side stalls.

A post-mortem was carried out on three of the seven bodies at Goroka and speci mens were sent to Port Moresby to deter mine the cause of deaths. Results were pending when this edition went to press.

However, a leading fresh food supplier in the highlands, Fresh Produce Development Co., Limited alleged that the seven people died from chemical poison ing. The chemical, Gramoxone, is widely used in coffee gardens and other planta tions to control broad-levelled weeds and grasses.

The company’s regional horticulturist Klaas Johan Osinga said almost all agri cultural stores in PNG sold Gramoxone.

He said the active ingredient inside the chemical called Paraquat was also an active ingredient of paracol, sold by some agricultural stores. He said Paraquat was highly toxic to animals and people and one teaspoon was enough to kill a person, if swallowed.

Osinga said most people in PNG were not aware of the dangers of agrochemicals.

“Gramoxone may have contributed to the death of the seven people if they had collected mushrooms in plantations where Gramoxone had been sprayed regularly.

The mushrooms may have accumulated Gramoxone, especially if they had been growing for a long time.

Meanwhile, the director of the Forest Research Institute in Lae, Terry Wara, indi cated that he would undertake an investi gation into the species of mushrooms blamed for the deaths.

Wara made the commitment following

concerns expressed by a private consultant

and mycologist that a formal investigation should be carried out to verify whether the mushrooms were infact poisonous.

Whyong Nangi, a mycologist with con

sulting firm Niugini Forestry Supplies,

said the mushrooms were known to the people in the area and was an edible

species.

Nangi said the institute should provide some handy hints to people on which types of mushrooms were good for human con sumption. ■