Current Travel Health News
Travel Health News Digest (14 March 2004)
Health officials of China reported nearly 210,000 cases of notifiable infectious diseases in February this year, with 234 deaths. Among the 27 notifiable infectious diseases, no plague, cholera, poliomyelitis and SARS cases were reported.
Hepatitis B, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, bacillary and amoebic dysentery and unclassified viral hepatitis were the most commonly reported diseases, accounting for almost 87% of the total cases. Rabies, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, meningococcal meningitis and newborn tetanus were the most commonly reported mortalities, accounting for over 88% of the total deaths.
(Source : China News Service 10/3/04)
Avian Influenza: North America [update]
U.S. officials confirmed the presence of the H7 strain of avian influenza in a commercial poultry flock on Maryland. This is the same strain that was found during February this year in 2 flocks in Delaware, but there is no known connection between the Maryland and Delaware cases.
In Canada, health officials had originally identified the avian influenza, which was found in February at a farm in British Columbia, as a low pathogenic version of the H7N3 strain. However, testing indicates it was transforming to a high pathogenic version. The H7N3 strain is presently not known to cause illness in humans.
(Source: ProMED-mail 9/3/04, Reuters 9/3/04)
Avian Influenza A/H5: Asia [Update-4]
Outbreaks of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza in Asia have eased. One was reported recently in Thailand/ Laos border. China continued to report no new case of avian flu for 26 days consecutively and only 2 of the 49 affected sites have not been removed from the list of affected areas.
So far, human cases are only reported in Vietnam and Thailand. As of March 9, there have been 22 and 11 human cases in Vietnam and Thailand respectively. No human to human transmission has been reported.
(Source: World Health Organization 9/3/04, China News Agency 13/3/04, Xinhuanet 14/3/04)
[Editor Note: Travellers going to affected areas should avoid visit to live bird markets and poultry farms. They should avoid contact with live poultry and birds and wash hand thoroughly with soap and water after contact. They should observe good food hygiene and consume only thoroughly cooked poultry products and eggs.]
Schistosomiasis: China (Hunan)
Schistosomiasis is affecting China once more, especially in area surrounding the Dongting Lake in Hunan. Out of the 700 villagers working along the lake side, 630 have been infected with the parasite.
(Source: China News Service 8/3/04)
[Editor note: Travellers should avoid taking uncooked snails or wading in fresh water. If travellers develop fever, abdominal pain, diarrhoea or dysentery, they should seek medical advice and give a complete travel history.]
The health officials of Kaohsiung reported that there were about 50 cases of malaria imported into Taiwan every year. This year, there was another case of malaria imported from Solomon Islands in February.
Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines are malaria risk areas. Travellers returning from these risk areas should suspect malaria if they have fever. They should go and see a doctor and inform their travel history.
(Source : Central News Agency 9/3/04)
Health authorities in Fiji have declared an alert following 2 confirmed cases of dengue fever in the Northern Division.
(Source: ProMED-mail 7/3/04)
Dengue fever: Australia (Queensland)
More cases of dengue fever have been reported in Cairns, bringing the year's total to 10. Last year there were 7 outbreaks of dengue fever in north Queensland affecting more than 600 people, 459 of them in Cairns.
In Townsville and Torres Strait, there have been 18 and 254 dengue fever cases respectively since November 2003.
(Source: ProMED-mail 7/3/04)
The Philippines government reported 399 cases of dengue fever, including 3 deaths, in the first 2 months of this year. Despite the 33 % decrease in the number of cases compared to the same period last year, there might be an epidemic this year due to the cycle of the disease.
(Source: ProMED-mail 7/3/04)
Dengue fever: Singapore [update]
The number of dengue cases in Singapore have declined, with 560 cases reported in the first 2 months of this year, down from 688 in the same period of last year.
(Source: ProMED-mail 7/3/04)
Dengue fever: Indonesia [update-4]
The death toll from dengue fever across Indonesia since January this year has reached 389. Jakarta is still the area with the most infections. The official said that the toll of death and suffering in some provinces, such as Eastern Nusa Tenggara, Jambi, and Yogyakarta, has declined.
(Source: ProMED-mail 7/3/04)