Cholera reported in Yangoru-Saussia

A FRESH outbreak of cholera has been reported in East Sepik’s Yangoru-Saussia district with two confirmed cases last week.
Yangoru-Saussia programme manager for health Francis Ipangu said last Friday that the first case was reported at Soli village where an adult male was diagnosed with the disease on Sept 30.
He was admitted to the Wewak General Hospital where he was treated and later released after his condition improved.
The second case was discovered about a kilometre away at Yehimbole village where another adult male developed similar symptoms last Thursday.
He was also rushed to Wewak last Friday where he was on treatment at the hospital at Boram.
Ipangu said clinical tests had confirmed both cases and people in the district should be careful with the basic hygiene practice.
He appealed to people to strictly observe basic hygiene rules, minimise unnecessary movement from villages and refrain from buying cooked food at the roadside or village markets in order to prevent the disease from spreading.
Meanwhile, a cholera task force had been set up in the district with local MP Peter Wararu committing K58,000 from his DSIP funds to stop the spread.
District administrator Theo Kileyawi is the chairman of the task force and will be assisted by Ipangu.
Ipangu said the task force team was in place and they were looking forward to setting up a care centre when resources were made available this week so that they would keep the patients in the districts instead of transporting them to Wewak.
He said any sightings of suspicious cases with vomiting and diarrhoea should be immediately reported to the task force committee on telephone 76967044 or 72792838.