Current Travel Health News
Travel Health News Digest (3 April 2005)
Angola: Marburg haemorrhagic fever [update-2]
The Health officials of Angola reported that death toll of Marburg haemorrhagic fever was up to 146. Cases were concentrated in northern Uige Province. Expert teams from WHO were in Uige Province and capital Luanda to strengthen active surveillance and contact tracing.
In neighbouring DRC, 2 suspected cases had been reported across the border from the north Angola. WHO was working with the health authority of DRC to train local staff in the border area near Angola in case detection and management.
(Source: Xinhuanet 27&30/03/05, WHO 1/4/05, ProMED-mail 3/4/05)
[Editor Note: Marburg virus belongs to the same family as Ebola virus. The disease is very contagious and transmitted through contact with blood or body fluids of affected people. The incubation period is 2-7 days and the symptoms include high fever, headaches, vomiting, diarrhoea and hemorrhagic tendency. Most fatal cases are children under five. There is no effective treatment or vaccine available for this disease.
Travellers should be aware of the risk when in the affected areas. If they have to go to the affected areas, they should maintain good personal and environmental hygiene and avoid contact with blood or body fluids of sick people.]
Democratic Republic of Congo: Cholera
Officials of United Nations said a cholera epidemic was occurring in north east region of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and had killed 4 people. In one refugee camp, more than 100 people had been infected. The country may experience a large outbreak of cholera.
(Source: China Central Television 2/4/05)
Timor-Leste: Dengue fever [update-4]
Since the beginning of this year, an epidemic of dengue fever had killed more than 40 people in Timor-Leste.
(Source: ASEAN Diseases Surveillance Net 30/3/05)
Vietnam: Highland unidentified disease
Apart from avian flu, Vietnam was suffering from an unidentified disease that was reported to have killed 2 people and affected 120 others in a commune in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai this week.
The patients had symptoms similar to poisoning such as numbness in their legs and arms, stomach aches, and the urge to vomit. Some patients had respiratory difficulty. Local health officials had not found any suspected source of poisoning so far. Samples of food and water were being tested.
(Source: ProMED-mail 1/4/05)
Asia: Avian influenza [update-31]
In Vietnam, more human cases of avian influenza were reported, making a total of 55 cases with 35 deaths so far. Of the recent new cases, victims came from the provinces of Quang Binh, Nam Dinh, Quang Ninh and Haiphong. One of them had visited Cambodia before the onset of symptoms. Field investigations of several family clusters in Vietnam had begun to determine whether the virus had mutated into a more deadly form.
In Kampot province of Cambodia, another fatal case of avian influenza was reported, making a total of two fatal cases so far.
In North Korea, the first outbreak of avian influenza was reported in the capital, Pyongyang. About 200,000 chickens had been culled and an investigation was still undergoing to determine the type of virus. No human case was reported.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the world would face the risk of an avian influenza pandemic.
(Source: ProMED-mail 29-30/3/05, 1/4/05 & WHO 29-30/3/05)
[Editor Note: For more information on avian influenza, travellers may go to the influenza page of Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health.]