Current Travel Health News
Travel Health News Digest (1 February 2004)
Americas: Dengue fever [update]
In Brazil, 338 cases of dengue fever have been reported in Goias sdtate in the first 2 weeks of January 2004.
In Peru, 517 and 113 cases of dengue have been reported in provinces of Lambayeque and Ucayali respectively since the outbreak 2 weeks ago.
In Bolivia, at least 250 cases of dengue have been reported in Beni province since the recent floods, and 200 suspected with 8 confirmed cases in Pando province.
In Honduras, the Health Authorities announced that they had registered 7 cases of dengue haemorrhagic fever so far this year. The patients came from San Pedro Sula, Santa Barbara, Villanueva, Choloma and Tegucigalpa.
(Source: ProMED-mail 31 January 2004)
[Editor Note: Travellers to central and south Americas should adopt anti-mosquito measures. Should fever develop within 2 weeks on return, they should suspect dengue and seek medical attention immediately, and inform travel history.]
Vietnam: Avian influenza A/H5 [update]
Two Vietnamese sisters, who died of bird flu, may have caught the virus from their brother, who had also died. The two adults were admitted to the Hanoi hospital on Jan 13 and died 10 days later.
They are part of a cluster of four cases of respiratory illness: the two sisters, their elder brother and his wife in the northern province of Thai Binh. Their brother died before them.
While the source of infection for the two sisters cannot be conclusively identified, the world Health Organization considers that limited human-to-human transmission from their brother to the sisters, is one possible explanation.
(Source: Xinhuanet 1 February 2004)
The highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks have to date affected 10 countries/areas. They are Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Mainland China, Pakistan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Human cases are only reported in Vietnam and Thailand. Apart from two in Vietnam (see article below) the rest of the cases have history of exposure to poultry.
In Mainland China, outbreaks have been reported in 10 provinces, viz, Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shanghai, Xinjiang, Yunnan, and Zhejiang.
(Source: Xinhuanet 1 February 2004)