In Fiji, one person has died from typhoid and more cases of the disease are emerging just days after tropical cyclone Gene swept through the country. The victim was a 33-year-old woman from the northern village of Nailou.
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Speaker – Inia Seruiratu, Commissioner of the the Northern branch of the National Disaster Management Centre; Dr Ami Chandra, Senior Divisional Medical Officer of the Northern Division.
CHANDRA: We have two separate places where we have received reports on the possibility of a typhoid outbreak. This is on the island of Taveuni itself, where a few villages are involved and on main island Vanua Levu, in the district of Tunaloa, we also have a few villages that have been reported. And in Tuvuni, we have received reports about six cases, probably with symptoms of typhoid as well.
CONNORS: Are they to do with some destruction around some of the water sources from the cyclone?
CHANDRA: Eh yes, this is one of the major contributing factors according to the health officials that have visited the places, it’s mainly due to contamination of their water sources as the result of landslide due to the recent heavy downpours.
CONNORS: The Senior Divisional Medical Officer of the Northern Division, Dr Ami Chandra, says typhoid is a constant threat.
CHANDRA: Typhoid has been an endemic disease in the northern division for the four to five years, and we have controlled it quite a lot in its magnitude. It is there, it does raise its ugly head, but now and then, especially after disasters and floods, hurricanes etc. So people sort of more vulnerable because their infrastructure basically with the water supply and poor saniation. They are more vulnerable around this time.
CONNORS: Mr Seruiratu says the the quarantine of whole villages is now a possibility.
Doctor Chandra says all ways of halting a larger outbreak are being investigated.
CHANDRA: That’s a very drastic measure to quarantine off a village or seal off a village, and because of one or two cases. We normally investigate all the contacts, to take samples, to advise the public on the measures to take and to treat the water supply, all these kind of things. Our inspectors have been there and they have taken samples.
CONNORS: Doctor Chandra says while this outbreak is a concern, the number of cases is dropping annually.
CHANDRA: Last year, we had almost hundreds of cases from not one village, but from one of the provinces that this village is part of. But towards the end of the year, the number of cases on a weekly basis or even on a monthly basis reduced to almost less than five or for this year alone, in January, for example, reports from that area were only two. And we are happy that people have heeded the messages, but I think more work and extra effort needs to go into educating the public to seek their cooperation and compliance with the standards that we are trying to address.
