Current Travel Health News
Travel Health News Digest (11 December 2005)
Indonesia: Hong Kong travellers contracted Dengue Fever
The Department of Health confirmed two imported cases of Dengue Fever. The cases were a 42-year-old male and a 24-year-old female. They both had history of travel to Indonesia on October and November respectively.
(Source: Department of Health, Hong Kong SAR 8,9 December 2005)
Russia: Haemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome
A total of 1 158 suspected cases of Haemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome were recorded in Orenburg Oblast region of Russia in 2005. Of these, 758 had been confirmed and 6 persons had died in the last two months alone.
(Source: ProMED-mail 7 December 2005)
Mainland: Avian Influenza, human [update-3]
The Ministry of Health in Mainland confirmed the fourth and fifth human cases of H5N1 Avian Influenza infection. The fourth case involved a 10-year-old girl from Ziyuan in the southern province of Guangxi. She developed symptoms of fever and cough on 23 November, followed by pneumonia and was hospitalised.
The fifth case was a 31-year-old female farmer in Liaoning province. She developed symptoms of pneumonia on 30 October and had been recovered and discharged on 29 November. Investigation had linked the woman’s infection to direct exposure to diseased poultry.
Of the five cases, two were fatal.
(Source: World Health Organization 7 and 9 December 2005; ProMED-mail 7 December 2005)
Thailand: Avian Influenza, human [update-5]
The Ministry of Public Health in Thailand had confirmed a further case of human infection with the H5N1 Avian Influenza virus. The case affected a 5-year-old boy, who developed symptoms on 25 November, and died on 7 December. The child resided in the province of Nakhonnayok. This was the fifth laboratory-confirmed case in Thailand this year and the second death.
(Source: World Health Organization 9 December 2005)
Ukraine: Avian Influenza, bird
The outbreak detected in the villages on the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine causing the death of 2 500 birds last weekend was confirmed to be caused by H5N1 Avian Influenza virus.
(Source: ProMED-mail 9 December 2005)
Zimbabwe: H5N2 Avian Influenza, bird
After H5N2 strain of Avian Influenza had been detected on 2 ostrich farms in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe, all ostrich farms in the country had been placed under quarantine. This strain of Avian Influenza poses little risk to human.
(Source: ProMED-mail 8 December 2005)
Romania: Avian Influenza, bird
In Romania, officials found Avian Influenza virus in 9 dead hens in a village close to the Danube delta where the virulent form of the virus first emerged. The village would be put under quarantine and domestic birds would be culled.
Tests on an infected turkey confirmed that bird flu in Romania had spread outside the Danube delta.
(Source: ProMED-mail 9 December 2005)