| Situation Update No. 1 Ref.no.: EH-20100322-25412-FJI
Situation Update No. 1
On 2010-03-29 at 03:51:29 [UTC]
Event: Epidemic Hazard
Location: Fiji Statewide Situation: The first case of typhoid has been identified in Fiji two weeks after Cyclone Tomas hit the Pacific nation. The first patient, a worker in a local Catholic parish, lives in an area that has been hit by outbreaks of the disease in the past. Two years ago an outbreak in the region killed a school teacher and hospitalised seven students. Village elders are urging locals to abide by the advice of health workers to boil all drinking water and wash their hands regularly. A large number of officials are on their way to the northern district of Tunuloa to control the outbreak, and the ministry of health is in the process of getting a typhoid vaccine, a first for Fiji. Village elders are said to be worried about the disease spreading quickly without the vaccine, which officials say should be in the country shortly. |  |
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