Current Travel Health News

The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed an additional case of human infection with the H5N1 Avian Influenza virus. The case occurred in a 32-year-old man. He developed symptoms on 15 May and died on 22 May. The case is part of a family cluster in North Sumatra. The man is the seventh member of an extended family to become infected with the H5N1 virus and the sixth to die.

 

In addition, 4 other suspected human cases were reported, which included an 18-year-old shuttlecock maker from East Java, a 10-year-old girl from West Java, and two persons from Jakarta.

 

(Source: World Health Organization 23 May 2006 and ProMED-mail 22, 26 and 27 May 2006)

Since early April 2006, three cities in Burkina Fasco (Ouagadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso and Sabou) have been confirmed to have poultry infected with H5N1 Avian Influenza.

 

(Source: ProMED 21 May 2006)

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Mainland reported two new outbreaks of Avian Influenza among migratory birds in Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province.  In Qinghai Province, the outbreak occurred in Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, while in Tibet Autonomous Region the outbreak occurred in Naqu district.  Although the 2 outbreaks had occurred in separate locations, they were linked by the same migratory route of the birds.  A total of 399 birds had died so far from these 2 outbreaks.

 

 (Source: Ministry of Agriculture, China 24 May 2006 and ProMED-mail 25 May 2006)

In Russia, new cases of bird flu have been registered in 8 villages in 3 Siberian regions, Novosibirsk, Omsk, and Altai.  None of the infected birds had been vaccinated against the disease.  In April 2006, around 1.1 million birds had died of the disease in Russia, and 300 000 had been culled.  No human cases of bird flu have yet been diagnosed in Russia.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 26 May 2006)

Nigeria confirmed an outbreak of H5N1 Avian Influenza at a poultry farm in the northern state of Kano. The virus was detected in a farm with over 16 000 chickens, but so far no human being has been infected.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 26 May 2006)

H5N1 bird flu virus was spreading in Romania where the number of infected sites rose by 20 to 75, veterinary officials said.  The capital Bucharest was among the areas affected with the virus, which reappeared at a poultry farm in Codlea 2 weeks ago.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 27 May 2006)

As of 23 May 2006, Angola has reported a total of 38 897 Cholera cases and 1 437 deaths.  12 out of 18 provinces are affected.  Of all cases, 51 per cent have occurred in Luanda and 19 per cent in Benguela province.

 

(Source: World Health Organization 25 May 2006)

The death of a woman from Bernalillo County, New Mexico was the state's first death from the plague in more than a decade. The woman died early last week of bubonic plague. Dr. Paul Ettestad, the state's public health veterinarian, said that Bernalillo County and other north-central New Mexico counties have increased plague activity this year.  Four people in New Mexico were infected with the plague in 2005.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 27 May 2006)