Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Six people in PNG province reported to have died from influenza outbreak

Posted at 22:47 on 17 August, 2007 UTC

Six people are reported to have died from an influenza outbreak in Papua New Guinea’s Morobe province.

The newspaper, the National, reports that the deaths occurred between June and July but the reports arrived to the provincial headquarters only last week due to heavy rain in the province.

The provincial health adviser, Dr Theo Likei, says it has sent a patrol into Garaina, but the team has not reported back yet.

Dr Likei says the full extent of the outbreak is not known because reports reaching his division are sketchy due to communication problems.