Current Travel Health News
Travel Health News Digest (12 February 2006)
Nigeria: Meningococcal Meningitis
In Bauchi state of Nigeria, 17 cases and 7 deaths of Meningococcal Meningitis had been reported.
(Source: ProMED-mail 9 February 2006)
[Editor’s Note: Bauchi state located at about 250km northeast of the capital Abuja.]
Kenya: Meningococcal Meningitis
In the drought-stricken northern Kenya, at least 12 people had died in the past 2 weeks from an outbreak of Meningococcal Meningitis. Kenya's health ministry reported 57 cases of meningitis since late January 2006 in West Pokot district near the border with Uganda.
(Source: ProMED-mail 9 February 2006)
Uganda: Meningococcal Meningitis
In Uganda, 301 cases of Meningococcal Meningitis with 23 fatalities had been reported in the north-eastern districts of Nakapiripirit and Moroto from 28 Dec 2005 to 3 February 2006. Laboratory tests had confirmed Neisseria meningitis A. Mass immunization campaign had been launched to stave off the spread of the disease.
(Source: World Health Organization 10 February 2006)
Sudan: Meningococcal Meningitis
In January 2006, 136 suspected cases and 15 deaths of Meningococcal Meningitis had been reported in Sudan.
(Source: ProMED-mail 9 February 2006)
Nigeria: Avian Influenza, poultry
Nigeria was the first country in Africa with confirmed H5N1 Avian Influenza outbreak in poultry. Four farms in this country had been quarantined and one was in Kaduna, two were near Kano and one was in Plateau State.
(Source: ProMED-mail 9 February 2006)
Azerbaijan: Avian Influenza, poultry
Azerbaijan said that the H5N1 strain of Avian Influenza virus had been found in tests on wild birds.
(Source: ProMED-mail 10 February 2006)
Greece and Italy: Avian Influenza, poultry
Greece and Italy said they had found swans with the H5N1 Avian Influenza virus.
(Source: ProMED-mail 11 February 2006)
Iraq: Avian Influenza, human [update]
In the Erbil and Sulaimaniyah area of northern Iraq, a fatal human case of H5N1 Avian Influenza infection was confirmed on 30 January. At present, 7 patients were being treated, in isolation, at hospitals in the area. Most of these patients had reported a history of direct contact with diseased poultry. Two patients with possible H5N1 infection had died. One of them was the 39-year-old uncle of the confirmed case.
There was a possible H5N1 human case in the southern part of Iraq. The case was a 13-year-old boy from the Omara area. He developed symptoms on 1 February, was hospitalised with severe pneumonia on 5 February, and died on the same day.
(Source: World Health Organization 7 February 2006)
Indonesia: Avian Influenza, human [update]
The Ministry of Health in Indonesia had confirmed 4 cases of human infection with the H5N1 Avian Influenza virus. Two of these cases were fatal. This raised Indonesia's total confirmed human cases to 23. Of these, 16 had died.
The first fatal case was a 22-year-old man from West Java who died on 26 January. He worked as a banana vendor at a market in East Jakarta where poultry meat was sold. Neighbours near his home reported poultry deaths prior to his onset of symptoms.
The second fatal case was a 15-year-old boy from West Java who died on 1 February. Deaths in chickens near his home were reported in the week prior to symptom onset.
The third case was a 9-year-old girl from West Java who was hospitalised on 19 January and had since recovered. She lived in a village neighbouring that of the two fatal cases in siblings confirmed on 23 January. Poultry deaths were reported in her village prior to symptom onset.
The fourth case was a 5-year-old boy from Lampung Province who developed symptoms in October of last year and has since fully recovered. The child was the brother of a previously confirmed case, a 20-year-old man who developed symptoms in late September and likewise fully recovered. Both the child and his brother had direct exposure to diseased chickens during slaughtering.
(Source: World Health Organization 6 February 2006)
Mainland: Avian Influenza, human
Mainland confirmed a case of human infection with H5N1 Avian Influenza in Hunan Province. The patient was a 20-year-old woman who developed fever and pneumonia on 27January. She died on 4 February.
(Source: Department of Health, Hong Kong SAR 10 February 2006)
Mainland: Avian Influenza, human and poultry
Mainland confirmed its eleventh confirmed case of human infection with H5N1 Avian Influenza. The case was a 26-year-old female farmer from the south-eastern province of Fujian. She developed symptoms on 10 January and was subsequently hospitalised with pneumonia. She remained under treatment in stable condition.
Of China’s 11 laboratory confirmed cases, 7 had been fatal. The cases had occurred in 7 provinces and regions: Anhui, Fujian, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Hunan, Liaoning, and Sichuan. In addition, 3 poultry outbreaks had been reported so far this year: one in Sichuan Province on 3 January, one in Guizhou Province on 10 January, and one in Shanxi Province on 8 February.
(Source: World Health Organization and ProMED-mail 9 February 2006)
Mainland: Avian Influenza, poultry
An outbreak of Avian Influenza took place in a large poultry farm in Shanxi province of the Mainland, with 15 000 chickens dying from the virus. Nearly 200 000 chickens had been culled within a 3-km radius of the affected farm. However, it was unclear what caused the latest outbreak in Shanxi.
(Source: ProMED-mail 8 February 2006)