Flu sweeping through districts

Lae News, Normal
Source:

By DAISY TANIOVA PAWA

MORE than 1,000 people are reported to be suffering from symptoms of seasonal flu in the districts outside of Lae.
Reports from community health workers at Garaina in Bulolo and Morobe patrol post in Huon Gulf said they were being affected by what appeared to be seasonal flu.
Technical officer at the provincial health office, Jack Aita, said he had received calls through
the VHF radio on Tuesday advising him the situation.
The affected villages in Garaina are Bupi, Timanigosa and Kapiso, all belonging to the ward 10 areas.
Zigori in the Morobe district is the only village reported to have patients with flu-like symptoms.
Mr Aita said the health workers were also requesting medical supplies to treat the patients as they had run out of supplies.
He said they were treating the cases as seasonal flu and would send medical supplies as soon as possible.
Mr Aita said if symptoms persist, the health office will have to arrange for swabs to be obtained from patients, so that laboratory tests could be conducted to determine the nature of the infection.
He said he was confident the symptoms were of seasonal flu and advised the public to eat citrus fruits to avoid infection.
Mr Aita said there could be patients in Lae and surrounding areas experiencing flu-like symptoms as well.