Current Travel Health News
Travel Health News Digest (4 September 2005)
In Gudermes of Chechnya, Russia, 65 children were hospitalised with the diagnosis of Leptospirosis. The source of infection might be the Michik River, where the children were swimming.
(Source: ProMED-mail 30 August 2005)
In Russia, as of 26 August, 334 people with symptoms of Tularemia had been reported in the Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, Moscow, and Vladimir regions. The diagnosis had been laboratory-confirmed in 128 persons.
(Source: ProMED-mail 31 August 2005)
[Editor’s Note: Tularemia, also known as “rabbit fever,” is a disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. Tularemia is typically found in animals, especially rodents, rabbits, and hares. Tularemia is usually a rural disease. Typically, people become infected through the bite of infected insects (commonly ticks), handling infected sick or dead animals, eating or drinking contaminated food or water, or inhaling airborne bacteria. Symptoms may be different according to the modes of transmission. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle ache, skin ulcer, enlargement of lymph node, eye pain, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, cough etc. The disease is treatable with antibiotics.]
Russia and Finland: Avian Influenza, bird
In Russia, bird cases of Avian Influenza had been reported in 46 Russian settlements of Siberia and Urals districts. About 30 500 infected birds had been slaughtered in the region so far.
In Finland, the chief veterinary officer confirmed that a seagull was infected by a low-pathogenic strain of Avian Influenza. This was not the H5N1 virus, and it posed a minimal risk to poultry and humans.
(Source: ProMED-mail 30 August 2005)
In Ethiopia, the number of Poliomyelitis cases had risen sharply from 2 to 16 this year. The additional 14 cases were children aged between 8 months and 11 years in Tigray, Amhara and Oromiya regions.
(Source: ProMED-mail 3 September 2005)
In Fouta Djalon of Guinea, 7 cases of Yellow Fever including 4 deaths were identified.
(Source: World Health Organization 31 August 2005)
In Mexico, Quintana Roo province health authorities announced that 336 Dengue Fever and Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever were notified during week 32, increased by 142% when compared with same period last year. Othon P.Blanco leaded the other municipalities with 210 cases, followed by Benito Juarez with 100 cases. In Tamaulipas province, 928 cases of Dengue Fever and 129 cases of Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever had been reported.
(Source: ProMED-mail 29 August 2005)
[Editor’s Note: Quintana Roo and Tamaulipas bordered with Belize and Texas, USA respectively. Travellers to Mexico should adopt anti-mosquito measures for health protections. Residents are encouraged to stay alert to the threat of Dengue Fever and help in the reduction of mosquito breeding sites.]
Guadeloupe and Martinique: Dengue Fever
In Guadeloupe and Martinique, 331 and 405 suspected cases of Dengue Fever were reported respectively from June to August. It was believed that the number of cases would increase steadily in both areas.
(Source: ProMED-mail 30 August 2005)
In St Lucia, health authorities had placed the island on a Dengue Fever alert following an outbreak of the disease on the neighbouring French island of Martinique.
(Source: ProMED-mail 31 August 2005)
India: Japanese Encephalitis [update]
In Uttar Pradesh Province, India, about 1 100 cases of Japanese Encephalitis had been reported in August. Almost all cases were below 15 years of age and about one-fourth of these had died. The worst-affected area was the Gorakhpur district.
(Source: World Health Organization 1 September 2005, ProMED-mail 3 September 2005)
In New Delhi of India, 26 new Dengue cases including 3 deaths were reported in the past 2 weeks. In Kolkata and several nearby district towns, about 300 people were affected and 11 people had died of the disease.
(Source: ProMED-mail 31 Aug 2005)
Philippines: Dengue Fever [update]
In the Philippines, 14 738 cases of Dengue Fever including 197 deaths had been reported this year. The number of cases increased by 20% compared with the same period last year.
(Source: ProMED-mail 31 August 2005)
Singapore: Dengue Fever [update]
In Singapore, 8 308 Dengue Fever cases had been reported during the first 8 months in 2005. There had been an upward trend of cases in recent years, with a total of 9 459 cases being reported last year and 4 788 cases in 2003.
(Source: Weekly Infectious Disease Bulletin, Singapore 24 August 2005)
Mongolia: Avian Influenza, bird
H5N1 Avian Influenza virus had been detected in several wild birds from Lake Erhel in northern Mongolia.
(Source: ProMED-mail 31 August 2005)
Vietnam: Avian Influenza, human [update-2]
In Hanoi, Vietnam, a patient who died of acute pneumonia in late August had been confirmed to have been infected with H5 Avian Influenza virus. Since late 2003, up to 92 human cases of infections including 42 deaths had been reported.
Local veterinary agencies reported that up to 70% of waterfowl in the southern Mekong delta had recently been tested positive for H5N1 virus.
(Source: ProMED-mail 1 September 2005)