ESP managing outbreak: Official

WHOOPING cough cases in East Sepik is under control, according to an official.
Public health manager Dr Sibauk Bieb said health authorities in the province were in close communication with the department and confirmed with the department that the situation was being managed.
“There is no more new cases reported as ongoing monitoring and surveillance is in place,” he said.
It was reported last month that 18 children had died while a hundred others were treated during an outbreak which affected at least 24 villages in East Sepik.
The cases were first reported at Bunam on June 1 and later spread to 24 villages in Keram.
The initial symptoms of whooping cought include blocked nose, dry and irritating coughs, watery eyes and diarrhea, Bieb said.
Infection occurs in the lining of the airways, principally in the windpipe as well as the airways that branch off from the trachea to the lungs.
Infected people can transmit it to others six to 20 days after the bacterium has entered their body, and three weeks after the start of the whooping cough, he said.
“The bacterium is transported in tiny droplets of water in the air,” he said.
When the patient coughs and sneezes, hundreds of droplets of moisture are expelled into the air.”
If people nearby inhale some of this moisture, they are exposed and could become infected, Bieb said.
Meantime, Bieb confirmed the department was aware of the cases of yaws in Western and New Ireland.
He said a team from the department would be going out to Western at the weekend to investigate the case.
Yaws is a contagious tropical disease in children caused by a bacteria that enters the skin.
The disease begins with a round, hard swelling of the skin, and is two-three centimetre in diameter. The centre may break open and form an ulcer or sore.
The disease occurs mainly in poor communities in warm, humid areas.