Current Travel Health News

The Ministry of Health of Indonesia had confirmed 6 additional cases of human infection with the H5N1 Avian Influenza virus, 3 of these cases were fatal.

 

One case was an 18-year-old man from East Java Province.  He developed symptoms on 6 May and was hospitalized on 17 May.  He had a history of exposure to dead chickens in his home within the week prior to symptom onset.  Two cases occurred in a 10-year-old girl and her 18-year-old brother from Bandung, West Java.  Both developed symptoms on 16 May, were hospitalised on 22 May, and died on 23 May.  They had history of close contact with sick and dying chickens at their home in the week before symptom onset.  Another case occurred in a 39-year-old man from West Jakarta.  He developed symptoms on 9 May, was hospitalized on 16 May, and died on 19 May.  The case cleaned pigeon faeces at his home shortly before symptom onset.  The remaining two patients were a 43-year-old man from South Jakarta, who developed symptoms on 6 May, and a 15-year-old girl from West Sumatra, who developed symptoms on 17 May.  The man had recovered and been discharged from hospital.  The 15-year-old girl was hospitalised for treatment.  The newly confirmed cases brought the cumulative total in Indonesia to 48.  Of these cases, 36 were fatal.

 

In addition, a 7-year-old girl from the Pamulang area on the outskirts of Jakarta was suspected to have contracted Avian Influenza.  She died on 1 June.  Laboratory confirmation is pending.

 

(Source: World Health Organization 29 May 2006, ProMED-mail 2 June 2006)

4 cases of Avian Influenza were reported in a farm in the commune of Boulaos.  All cases died and the remaining birds were slaughtered.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 4 June 2006)

One positive case of Avian Influenza was detected in a farm in the districts of El Manshaa, Sohag.  All fowls at the site were culled.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 4 June 2006)

In Bulgan aimag of Mongolia, H5N1 Avian Influenza virus had been detected in a dead whooper swan.

(Source: World Organization for Animal Health 1 June 2006)

More than 100 outbreaks of Avian Influenza have been found in the last 3 weeks in Romania, some in Bucharest and many around a poultry farm about 170 km north of the capital.  Most of the cases so far have been reported in the central region of Transylvania.  The country has not reported any cases of bird flu in people.

 

(Source: ProMED 30 May 2006)

In India, as many as 230 people in Belgaum district were said to suffer from Chikungunya. The disease has been identified in the villages of Ramdurg, Bailhongal, Gokak, Khanapur, Chikkodi and Athani taluks.  The first case of chikungunya in the district was detected at Telsang village.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 3 June 2006)

A total of 11 imported cases of Chikungunya were reported in Germany in May.  The patients contracted the disease while travelling in Mauritius, Seychelles or Madagascar.

 

4 cases of Chikungunya have been identified among Canadians travelling to offshore islands in the Indian Ocean.  Their have visited Reunion, Mauritius, and the Seychelles Islands in February.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 29 and 31 May 2006)

Angola had reported a total of 40 557 cases of Cholera and 1 515 deaths from 19 February to 29 May 2006.  Of all cases, 51% have occurred in Luanda, 19% in Benguela and 10% in Malanje province.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 2 June 2006)

A total of 23 people in the districts of Hoima, Kibaale and Bundibugyo in Uganda have died following a cholera outbreak. In Kitgum district, local health official said on 29 May 2006 that at least 350 cases and 8 deaths were reported during the last 7 weeks from 13 refugee camps.

 

(Source: ProMED 2 June 2006)

In Russia, 3 people were hospitalised with a diagnosis of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in the Volgograd Region.  4 more people were diagnosed with the same disease in Stavropol Region, and 1 of them had already died.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 29 May 2006)

Health care worker confirmed that three persons dead because of Dengue fever in Santiago de Cuba, though authorities have not given official data and information.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 4 June 2006)

A Dengue fever outbreak has affected 180 persons in Chulucanas city during the past 2 months.

 

[Editor's Note: Chulucanas, capital city of Morropon Province, has 34 000 inhabitants.  The last dengue epidemics occurred in this city in 2001, leading to 800 persons affected and 100 deaths.]

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 4 June 2006)

City health officer in Zamboanga City disclosed that there were a total of 125 Dengue fever cases registered, with 2 deaths recorded since January this year.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 4 June 2006)

Dengue fever cases have been identified in the Ampur Mae Sareang, with 6 patients hospitalised.  The public health office of Ampur Mae Sareang revealed that a rising trend of Class 4 Dengue fever has been found in the Mae Hong Sorn province.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 4 June 2006)

An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Pamplona has affected 61 people, 31 of whom have had to be hospitalized.  30 cooling towers in the area of the Ensanche de Pamplona were tested, and the bacterium was found in 4 of them.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 4 June 2006)

A man in Santa Fe County of New Mexico was hospitalised for Plague on 30 May. He was the second case of New Mexico in 2006.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 1 June 2006)