Unknown disease claims five

TWO adults and a grade three male student have died from an unidentified illness, while a grade eight female student and a villager are fighting for their lives, according to a head teacher in Morobe.
Head teacher of Geni Primary School in Gataipa of Waria in Garaina, Bulolo, Iman Billy, said the cause of the deaths remain unclear.
However, he said the villagers suspected a recent frost that had affected food crops in the area had something to do with the outbreak of the sickness.
Billy said the third grader died on Tuesday and was buried yesterday; the two adults, a man and a woman, died last Thursday and Saturday respectively.
He said the eighth grader and another woman, both from Belaoka village, were in a critical condition.
Gataipa local, Jimmy Elap, told The National about the deaths.
Billy said the five started to feel sick two weeks ago around the same time the frost had affected gardens in the area. Billy said he had suspended classes for all students at the school except for grade eight students.
He described the symptoms as similar to flu with cold, fever, headaches, cough and dizziness which had seen all the deceased lose weight over a short period of time before they died.
“We’re suspecting outbreak of some disease but medical tests will tell us what it is,” he said.
Gataipa, Timom, Oiri, Unirag, Belaoka, Isam, Uruai, Kapang, Kolmari and Eap villages are located in ward six of Waria LLG, sharing border with Central and Gulf.
“We’ve no access to aid posts, and because the road ends at Kasangare and Sim, it takes us a week to walk down to the Garaina health centre in the Waria valley.”
Morobe provincial health adviser Micah Yawing said he would send officers to the area to attend to the sick and determine the causes.