Samoan community

Taro chips initially feared as source of typhoid outbreak

Documents released under the Official Information Act show health authorities scrambling to keep the public updated after a breakdown in communication when news broke that 10 people, including three children, had been hospitalised with typhoid fever.

The outbreak was revealed publicly late afternoon on Friday, March 31. Authorities had identified an outbreak more than a week earlier and the fact that a woman had died from the disease was not made public until Tuesday, April 4.