Malaysia had reported an increase in suspected Dengue Fever cases in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Penang in the past week whilst other states have recorded a decline. No death was reported.

Indonesian health officials were investigating the deaths of 22 people in the capital Jakarta over a 2-month period from an unidentified illness characterized by high fever. The death started in October and the last death was reported on 27 Nov 2006. Most of the victims were over 40 and from middle-class residential areas near St. Carolus. All of whom died days after being admitted to St. Carolus hospital. All with symptom of high fever. Samples taken from the patients had been under investigation, but the cause of death remained a mystery.

The Department of Health was notified of an imported case of Dengue Fever. The patient, a 39-year-old male visitor, developed symptoms of fever, headache, and joint pain on 15 December. He was admitted to a private hospital and had been discharged on 21 December. Initial investigations revealed that he had travelled to Vietnam during the incubation period.

There have been a total of 31 dengue fever cases so far this year. All of them are classified as imported cases.

In Bangkok of Thailand, a series of New Year's Eve bomb blasts had killed three Thais and wounded 38 people.

The Ministry of Health in Egypt had reported the last victim of the 3 new cases of human infection with the H5N1 Avian Influenza virus died of the infection, bringing the total number of deaths to 10. The 3 victims came from the same family living in Gharbiyah province and they had contacted their sick ducks. The other family members remained healthy and had been placed under close observation.

In Angola, with more residents stick to preventive measures, the daily reported new case of Cholera dropped from 20 to 15 cases in the provincial hospital of Uige. In the peripheral of Huambo city, the outbreak has infected 269 people with 25 deaths.

In Niger, the Cholera epidemic started in September had claimed 79 lives and infected about 1 200 peoples. The most affected cities were Zinder, Maradi, and Diffa.

Nearly 160 people had been diagnosed with Malaria in Jamaica's first outbreak of the disease in 4 decades. No deaths had been reported. The number of new cases had been dwindling in recent days. Most cases had been detected in densely populated slums of west Kingston.

In New York, USA, there was a large increase in the reported number of Rabies cases in humans, including 7 in December alone. The outbreak was centred on the borough of Staten Island, New York, where 35 animals had tested positive for the virus during 2006. The Staten Island, which sits just off the southern shore of Manhattan, has a large population of racoons and other wild animals which are susceptible to the virus. There were no reports of Rabies cases on Staten Island during 2005.

Fifty people in the Voronezh region in central Russia contracted Haemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome.

[Editor's note: Haemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome is an endemic disease in Russia. There has been a marked increase in the number of human cases this time.]

(Source: ProMED-mail 29 December 2006)

Media reported on 1 January 2007 that the number of cases of Rift Valley Fever in the North Eastern Province of Kenya was 105, of whom 52 died.

As of 27 December, 32 cases of Rift Valley Fever had been reported in Garissa of Kenya this year, of whom 19 died.