Current Travel Health News

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) verified with the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) on 21 April five human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) in Zhejiang. The five cases in Zhejiang involve two men aged 58 and 76 and three women aged 68, 79 and 81 respectively. The 76-year-old man passed away on 21 April. The other four patients are receiving treatment in hospital and their condition is serious.

As of 21 April, a total of 101 cases have been laboratory confirmed with avian influenza A(H7N9) in Zhejiang (38 cases), Shanghai (33 cases), Jiangsu (23 cases), Anhui (three cases), Henan (three cases) and Beijing (one case).

Cases of measles infection continued to increase in United Kingdom and a 25-year-old man of Port Tennant, Swansea, died of the infection on 18 April.

Public health officials from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services of USA are working with local health departments to investigate an outbreak of measles. A total of 7 cases have been identified in residents of Stokes and Orange Counties. Moreover, in Harris County, Texas, a one-year-old child has been confirmed with measles infection.

An outbreak of Avian Influenza virus subtype H7 was detected in 2 turkey farms in the district of Osnaburg, Lower Saxony of Germany.

The New Mexico Health Department of USA has reported the first case of Hantavirus infection in the state this year. A 45-year-old McKinley County woman has contracted the infection.

A confirmed case of Hantavirus infection involving a 36-year-old person was reported in Berisso municipality, Argentina.

Authorities of the Ministry of Health in Los Santos Province, Panama confirmed a new case of Hantavirus infection. The patient was from the Tonosi community.

In Bolivia, a fatal case of Bolivian Haemorrhagic Fever was reported on 14 April, in which a 6-year-old boy was involved. In March 2013, 2 other fatal cases were reported and there were 115 suspected cases in the whole Department this year.

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) verified with the National Health and Family Planning Commission on 20 April one human case of avian influenza A (H7N9) in Jiangsu, one in Shanghai and three in Zhejiang. The case in Jiangsu involves a 43-year-old man who is receiving treatment in hospital. His current condition is critical. The 23 close contacts of him are asymptomatic so far. The case in Shanghai involves a 75-year-old woman who is receiving treatment in hospital. Her current condition is stable. The 15 close contacts of her are asymptomatic so far. The three cases in Zhejiang involve a woman aged 35 and two men aged 37 and 56 respectively. They are receiving treatment in hospital and their condition is serious. As of 20 April, a total of 96 cases have been laboratory confirmed with avian influenza A (H7N9) in Shanghai (33 cases), Zhejiang (33 cases), Jiangsu (23 cases), Anhui (three cases), Henan (three cases) and Beijing (one case).

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 occurred on 20 April in Lushan County of Ya'an City in Sichuan Province. A total of 179 people were killed.

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) verified with the National Health and Family Planning Commission on 19 April one human case of avian influenza A (H7N9) in Jiangsu and three in Zhejiang.

The case in Jiangsu involves a 54-year-old man who is receiving treatment in hospital. His current condition is critical. The four close contacts of him are asymptomatic so far. The three cases in Zhejiang involve a woman aged 66 and two men aged 43 and 48 respectively. They are receiving treatment in hospital and their condition is serious. As of 19 April, a total of 91 cases have been laboratory confirmed with avian influenza A (H7N9) in Shanghai (32 cases), Zhejiang (30 cases), Jiangsu (22 cases), Anhui (three cases), Henan (three cases) and Beijing (one case).

The Centre for Health Protection verified with the National Health & Family Planning Commission on 18 April one human case of avian influenza A(H7N9) in Henan, one in Shanghai, one in Jiangsu and two in Zhejiang.

The Henan case involves a 38-year-old man who is receiving treatment in hospital. His current condition is serious. His seven close contacts are asymptomatic so far. The Shanghai case involves an 80-year-old woman who is receiving treatment in hospital. Her current condition is stable. Her seven close contacts are asymptomatic so far. The case in Jiangsu involves a 26-year-old woman. Her five close contacts are asymptomatic so far. The two cases in Zhejiang involve a 54-year-old woman and a 69-year-old man. They are receiving treatment in hospital and both are in serious condition. As of 18 April, a total of 87 cases have been laboratory confirmed with avian influenza A(H7N9) in Shanghai (32 cases), Zhejiang (27 cases), Jiangsu (21 cases), Anhui (three cases), Henan (three cases) and Beijing (one case).

Avian influenza has been discovered at a poultry farm in Suffolk, United Kindgom. Initial tests were negative for the H5 and H7 strains, which are potentially lethal for humans.

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) verified with the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) on 17 April seven human cases of avian influenza A (H7N9) in Shanghai and four in Zhejiang.

The seven cases in Shanghai involve an 89-year-old man, a 47-year-old man and five lookback cases. The 89-year-old man is receiving treatment in hospital. His nine close contacts are asymptomatic so far. The 47-year-old man is currently receiving treatment in hospital. As regards the five lookback cases, specimens of five patients were sent for laboratory testing in March and subsequently yielded positive for avian influenza A (H7N9) virus in the lookback diagnosis. Among these five lookback cases, three patients were recovered and two died. The 64 close contacts of these five patients and the 47-year-old man are asymptomatic so far. The four cases in Zhejiang involve a woman aged 37 and three men aged 41, 74 and 86 respectively. They are receiving treatment in hospital.

As of 17 April, a total of 82 cases have been laboratory confirmed with avian influenza A (H7N9) in Shanghai (31 cases), Jiangsu (20 cases), Zhejiang (25 cases), Anhui (three cases), Henan (two cases) and Beijing (one case).

In north of Cairo, Egypt, a 26-year-old man died of H5N1 avian influenza.

A hepatitis A outbreak linked to frozen berries has sickened as many as 56 people in 4 of Europe's Nordic countries.

A Yellow Fever outbreak happened in the northwestern corner of the Upper West Region of Ghana.

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) verified with the National Health and Family Planning Commission on 16 April three human cases of Influenza A (H7N9) in Jiangsu and five in Zhejiang.

The three cases in Jiangsu involve two men aged 56 and 72 and a woman aged 21. They are currently receiving treatment in hospital. The 72-year-old man is in critical condition while the other two patients are in serious condition. The 25 close contacts of the trio are asymptomatic so far.

The five cases in Zhejiang involve two women aged 58 and 72 and three men aged 56, 57 and 62 respectively. They are receiving treatment in hospital and their current condition is critical.

As of 16 April, total of 71 cases have been laboratory confirmed with Influenza A (H7N9) in Shanghai (24 cases), Jiangsu (20 cases), Zhejiang (21 cases), Anhui (three cases), Henan (two cases) and Beijing (one case).

Two cases of H5N2 highly pathogenic and 7 cases of H5N2 low pathogenic avian influenza virus infection were reported in Western Cape Province, South Africa. A total of 1901 birds were affected and 1766 were destroyed.

The Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health verified with the National Health and Family Planning Commission on April 15 one human case of Influenza A (H7N9) in Jiangsu, one in Zhejiang and one in Anhui. The case in Jiangsu involves a 60-year-old man who is receiving treatment in hospital. His current condition is critical. The three close contacts of the man are asymptomatic so far. The case in Zhejiang involves a 68-year-old woman. She is receiving treatment in hospital. Her current condition is critical. The case in Anhui involves a 60-year-old man who is receiving treatment in hospital. His current condition is critical. The 25 close contacts of the man are asymptomatic so far. Specimens of the three cases tested positive for H7N9 upon laboratory testing by the Mainland health authorities.

In Boston, two explosions causing deaths and injuries occurred close to the finish line of the Boston marathon on April 15, 2013.

According to the health authority in USA, cases of Lyme disease are on the rise in the northwest and people are reminded to be aware of ticks.

[Editor’s note: Lyme Disease is an infectious disease caused by spirochaete. The disease is characterised by a distinctive skin lesion, general discomfort, fatigue, fever, headache, stiff neck, muscle and joint pain, and lymph node swelling. Neurological, cardiac and joint abnormalities may occur in varying combinations over months to years. Lyme Disease is transmitted by ticks. It is not transmitted from person-to-person. Wild rodents and deer are important host of the vector tick species. To prevent acquiring the disease, travellers should wear light-coloured clothing that covers legs and arms, tuck trousers into socks and apply tick repellent such as DEET to skin.]

In Pakistan, another fatal outbreak of measles has claimed 4 lives in the province of Punjab. The ages of the infants ranged from 2 to 4 years. The total number of deaths in Lahore has increased to 40 while the number of those affected in the province has risen to 8350.

An outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza infection was reported in Phan Rang city of Vietnam and 5000 salangane birds which were raised by local people there were found dead. Among the dying birds, 8 samples were found positive to the avian flu strain H5N1.

Nine cases of H5N1 avian influenza virus infection was reported on 11 April in Narayani, Mechi and Lumbini, Nepal. Of 10,901 susceptible birds, 3982 were found dead and the rest of them were destroyed.

Weekly trend of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease in Macau has increased based on the 3 week moving average. As of 29 March, cumulative report for 2013 was 320 cases.