Balevuto Health Center

While 96 diarrheal cases have been reported in the Balevuto area, two more cases have tested positive for the bacteria enteropathogenic E.coli and two cases tested positive for the parasite Entamoeba histolytica.

The Ministry of health had earlier stated that one suspected case had tested positive for Shigella sonnei.

It says there are pathogens that are spread through the faeces of infected persons, and which are known to cause outbreaks of acute diarrheal illness.

The Ministry says further specialized testing of patient samples will be done at a reference laboratory in Melbourne.

According to the Ministry, two to four diarrheal cases are reported daily, however the number of people being admitted to hospital has reduced.

The last reported hospital admission was on the 14th of September.

A total of 24 cases were admitted to hospital from August 27th to September 14th and six remain admitted.

According to the Ministry, 96 cases have been reported since August 20th and people have been presenting themselves to the hospital complaining of loose bowel motions, with or without blood in stool, fever, abdominal pain or vomiting.

These cases were reported in the Balevuto medical area, including in Nukuloa, Balevuto, Nacaci, Toge, Vatusui, Tabataba, Naruku, Talaiya, and Moto.

The Ba team are, working on ensuring there is community wide close follow up of patients with chronic underlying disease, and the elderly, to ensure ongoing wellbeing, as these are the groups of people more at risk of falling ill and developing severe disease during this outbreak.

The Ministry Health and Medical Services has four teams on the ground actively monitoring the situation, and contingency plans are in place to expedite or escalate response if necessary.

Chemical analysis of tap water from the water supply scheme providing tap water to over 6,000 residents conducted by Koronivia Research Station shows all chemicals are within the normal range for drinking water standards.

In addition to the already conducted analysis of the tap water, the Ba Medical team, continue collecting samples from alternative sources of water i.e., tanks and borehole for analysis at Fiji CDC.

The team have also collected food samples for testing and are doing house visits, supplying WASH kits, purification tablets and conducting public health awareness.