Current Travel Health News

The health official of Egypt had announced 3 new human cases of H5N1 Avian Influenza.  All victims were children.  They were hospitalised and remained in a stable condition.  The first case, from Qena Governorate, was the brother of the 6-year-old girl whose infection was reported on 28 March.  The other two were from Sohag and Qalubiea Governorates.  They all had history of contact with dead birds. Of the 32 cases confirmed to date in Egypt, 13 had been fatal.

In Cambodia, a new fatal case of human infection with the H5N1 Avian Influenza virus was confirmed. The case was a 13-year-old girl from Kampong Cham province.  She died on 5 April.  The source of infection was not known yet.  This was the 7th death due to Avian Influenza in Cambodia.

Three more fatal cases of confirmed Avian Influenza had been reported in Indonesia, making the total number of fatal cases to 74.  The first one was a 23-year-old housemaid from south Jakarta.  She took care of an eagle kept by her master at home.  A number of fowl in the area had suddenly died but the authorities had yet to determine whether the eagle had the virus.  The second case was a 15-year-old girl from central Jakarta.  She had contact with infected pet birds at her home.  The third case was a 29-year-old man who died on 5 April.  He had contact of sick chicken.

A Measles outbreak had been occurred in the region of Apulia in southeastern Italy between 19 November 2006 and 9 January 2007 with 18 cases reported.

In Malaysia, an outbreak of Cholera affecting 90 people with one death was reported in 3 northern districts of Sabah in March.  Among them, 50 had been categorised as Cholera patients and 40 as carriers.  The areas affected included Kudat, Pitas and Kota Marudu.  In January this year, 15 cases of Cholera with 54 cases in carrier stage were also reported in Sandakan.

In Solomon Islands, some Dysentery cases had been reported among those displaced by the earthquake/tsunami disaster.  Unhygienic conditions and lack of clean water had contributed to diarrhoea outbreaks in several of the makeshift camps where at least 2 000 survivors were staying near Gizo. 

In Angola, 8 more cases of Cholera were detected in the outskirts of Huambo city, increasing the number of people affected by the outbreak in the region to 882.  In Benguela province, more than 2 600 cases had been reported this year.  In Cunene, 193 new cases of Cholera were notified from January to March 2007.  Since the outbreak started in September 2006, health officials had notified 1 915 cases of Cholera, with 72 deaths.

 

An outbreak of Cholera in Kenya resulted in death of 5 people and others were admitted in health centres for treatment.  The outbreak was due to the consumption of contaminated water.

 

The Northern Cape Health Department of South Africa revealed traces of Cholera on water samples of the Vaal River.  The public was alerted not to drink any untreated water from any source.

An outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infection affecting 10 people occurred in Orange County, USA.  All the victims dined at the same Souplantation restaurant in Lake Forest on 23 or 24 March 2007.  The causative agent was the O157:H7 strain and the source of the infection had not yet been identified.

The Ministry of Health of Jamaica reported that the number of Malaria cases in the outbreak in Kingston reported since December 2006 had increased to 340, including 4 new cases identified since the start of this week.

As of 26 March 2007, the total number of Dengue Fever cases in Brazil reported by the Ministry of Health was 134 909.