Risk of PNG cholera outbreak spreading to Australia "minimal"

Updated November 11, 2010 09:25:42

The deaths of more than a dozen children following an outbreak of cholera on one of Papua New Guinea's Torres Strait Islands has raised concerns that the disease might spread to other islands, as well to the PNG and Australian mainland.

Those cases identified so far have centred on heavily populated Daru Island, where many other victims are in hospital.

But at the moment there appears to be limited cause for more widespread alarm, with Dr Steven Donohue from Queensland Health - the Australian state closest to the Torres Strait - saying the risk of a more far-flung outbreak at this stage is minimal.

Presenter: Simon Lauder

Speaker: Dr Steven Donohue, Queensland Health, Australia.