Travel Health Service Year 2017

Current Travel Health News

Take precautions against dengue fever when travelling abroad

Dengue fever is now endemic in more than 100 countries in Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. This includes various popular tourist destinations for Hong Kong people including the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Travellers planning to travel in these areas should take precautions against the disease.

Cumulative reported number of dengue cases since 01/01/2017 *

	Cumulative reported no. of cases since 01/01/2017	Source of information and date of report
Guangdong	1,752	Health and Family Planning Commission of Guangdong Province, 15 January 2018
India	157,220	Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, India, 24 December 2017
Philippines	131,827	World Health Organization, 30 January 2018

Remarks:
* Dengue reporting systems vary by country/area.

# Cumulative cases since 2 January 2017.

Cumulative reported number of dengue cases since 01/01/2018 *

	Cumulative reported no. of cases since 01/01/2018	Source of information and date of report
Australia	55	World Health Organization, 30 January 2018
Brazil	9,396	World Health Organization, 8 February 2018
Cambodia	36	World Health Organization, 30 January 2018
Japan	6	National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan, 6 February 2018
Lao PDR	16	World Health Organization, 30 January 2018
Macau	0"	Health Bureau of Macau, 24 January 2018
Malaysia	1,153^@	World Health Organization, 30 January 2018
Mexico	1,295	World Health Organization, 8 February 2018
Singapore	335^@	Singapore National Environment Agency, 8 February 2018
Sri Lanka	8,060	Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, 8 February 2018
Taiwan	0”	CDC, ROC (Taiwan), 8 February 2018
Thailand	1,661	Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, 6 February 2018
Vietnam	4,635	World Health Organization, 30 January 2018

* Dengue reporting systems vary by country/area.
@ Cumulative cases since 31 December 2017.
“ Locally-acquired

Travellers should stay vigilant against dengue fever and adopt the following personal preventive measures against mosquito bite:

*	Always wear loose, light-coloured long-sleeved tops and trousers;
*	Stay in air-conditioned residence or places with mosquito screens;
*	If mosquito screen or air-conditioning is absent, aerosol insecticide and bed nets are advised;
*	Use insect repellents containing DEET on exposed skin and clothing;
*	Use insect repellents containing DEET apart from applying sunscreen while staying in beaches;
*	Re-apply insect repellents according to instructions during the trip;
*	Carry a portable bed nets and apply permethrin on it as well as to clothes if travelling to rural areas where dengue fever is prevalent.

Travellers returning from areas where dengue fever is prevalent should seek medical advice as soon as possible if they feel unwell and provide travel details to their doctors.

Mainland: Avian Influenza

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) received notification of an additional human case of avian influenza A(H7N9) from the Health and Family Planning Commission of Guangdong Province on February 12. The case occurred in Zhongshan and this is the first case in Guangdong this winter.

Since October 2017, three human cases of avian influenza A (H7N9) infections and two other human cases of avian influenza A (H5N6) infections have been reported in the Mainland. Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5) in birds and poultry have also occurred in many countries in the past few months.

Travellers to the Mainland or other affected areas must avoid visiting wet markets, live poultry markets or farms. They should be alert to the presence of backyard poultry when visiting relatives and friends. They should also avoid purchasing live or freshly slaughtered poultry, and avoid touching poultry/birds or their droppings. They should strictly observe personal and hand hygiene when visiting any place with live poultry.

(Source: Centre for Health Protection 12 February 2018)

Nigeria: Lassa Fever [Update]

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control recently reported 449 suspected cases of Lassa fever across 17 States since 1 January 2018. As of 4 February 2018, there were 132 confirmed cases and 40 deaths recorded.

(Source: ProMED-mail 12 February2018)

Turkey: Anthrax

Turkey reported a suspected anthrax outbreak in Trabzon city associated with an anthrax-tainted cow. It has affected 73 people and killed one people.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 11 February 2018)

Global: Influenza

Influenza activity remained high in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere while in the temperate zone of the southern hemisphere, activity was at inter-seasonal levels. Worldwide, influenza A accounted still for the majority of influenza detections but influenza B (mostly from the Yamagata lineage) increased in recent weeks.

(Source: Flu Express , Centre for Health Protection 8 February 2018)

Angola: Cholera

From 21 December 2017 to 3 February 2018, 557 cases of cholera including 11 deaths were reported in Uíge province, Angola. A major factor contributing to the outbreak is the lack of safe water and sanitation infrastructure in the affected area.

(Source: The World Health Organization 8 February 2018)

Benin: Lassa Fever

From 8 January to 6 February 2018, 21 cases of Lassa fever including 8 deaths have been reported in Benin. Lassa fever is endemic in Benin, and Benin has been reporting Lassa every year since 2014.

(Source: The World Health Organization 8 February 2018)

Kenya: Chikungunya Fever

An outbreak of Chikungunya fever has been reported in Mombasa, Kenya since mid-December 2017. A total of 453 suspected cases including 32 laboratory confirmed cases were recorded up to 3 February 2018.

(Source: ProMED-mail 9 February 2018)

Korea: Norovirus

Health officials of Korea reported an outbreak of norovirus infection at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. A total of 128 norovirus cases were recorded over the past week.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 8 February 2018)

South Africa: Listeriosis [Update]

South Africa reported 107 deaths have been registered in the listeriosis outbreak since January 2017. Totally there were 852 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases recorded as of February 5.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 8 February 2018)

Israel: Avian Influenza, wild birds

Israel reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in wild owls.

(Source: ProMED-mail 8 February 2018)

Mainland: Influenza

In Mainland China (week ending Jan 28, 2018), the influenza activity in both southern and northern provinces was still at a high level but on a decreasing trend. In southern provinces, the proportion of ILI cases in emergency and outpatient departments reported by sentinel hospitals was 5.9 %, lower than that reported in the previous week (6.7%) but higher than that in the corresponding period in 2015-2017 (3.2%, 3.1%, 3.3%). In northern provinces, that proportion was 4.9%, lower than that reported in the previous week (5.3%) but higher than that in the corresponding period in 2015-2017 (3.1%, 3.6%, 3.8%). The proportion of influenza detections in the week ending January 28, 2018 was 42.5% (59.5% influenza A and 40.5% influenza B).

(Source: Centre for Health Protection 8 February 2018)

South Sudan: Cholera [Update]

South Sudan declared the end of cholera outbreak this week. The outbreak of cholera in South Sudan resulted in 20,000 suspected cases and 436 deaths from June 2016 to December 2017.

(Source: World Health Organization 7 February 2018)

Brazil: Yellow Fever [Update]

The health authority said from July 1, 2017 to February 6, 2018, 353 cases of yellow fever were confirmed in Brazil, of which 98 died. This compares to last year, from July 2016 to February 6, 2017, there were 509 cases of confirmed yellow fever and 159 confirmed deaths.

The yellow fever vaccine fractionation campaign began on January 25 in the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The vaccination campaign in the state of Bahia begins on February 19.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 7 February 2018 )

India: Kyasanur Forest Disease

Between January 2016 and January 2018, laboratory tests confirmed 332 cases of Kyasanur Forest disease in Sindhudurg district, India, including 19 lethal cases. The virus can be spread to humans by tick bites or contact with infected animals.

(Source: ProMED-mail 6 February 2018)

United Kingdom: Scarlet Fever

Public Health England reported that scarlet fever is rising across the United Kingdom. There were 6,225 cases of scarlet fever recorded since mid-September 2017, compared to 3,764 for the same period last season.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 6 February 2018)