Current Travel Health News

In Banten province of West Java of Indonesia, the health authority suspected 3 recent deaths in a family caused by Avian Influenza.  The victims had showed symptoms of pneumonia and had no contact history with poultry, raising concern of person-to-person transmission.  Other 4 family members had shown no symptoms.  Blood tests had been carried out on more than 300 people who had contact with the family.

 

In Vietnam, Avian Influenza had killed another resident and infected 3 more.  Health department confirmed that a total of 60 local people from 23 localities had been infected with Avian Influenza since late December 2004, of whom 19 died. 

(Source: ProMED-mail 13-15 July 2005)

[Editor’s Note: For more information on Avian Influenza, travellers may go to the Influenza page of Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health.]

In Ibaraki prefecture of Japan, a new case of H5N2 type Avian Influenza had been confirmed in a chicken farm neighbouring the earlier outbreaks discovered last month.  The local government had culled all 8 500 chickens at the farm.

 

In Suphanburi province of Thailand, new cases of H5N1 type Avian Influenza had been detected.  More than 450 fowl had been destroyed.  No human case has been detected.  Thailand has never been clean of bird flu virus since the beginning of last year.  Local health authority said that the latest outbreak of bird flu found in central Thailand showed that the disease had become endemic in the region.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 11 July 2005, ASEAN Disease Surveillance 13 July 2005)

In Tangerang (nearby the capital Jakarta) of Indonesia, over 50 residents had contracted Chikungunya Disease.  Health authority had sent a medical team to provide free medical treatment for affected villagers there.

 

(Source: ASEAN Disease Surveillance 15 July 2005)

 

[Editor’s Note: Chikungunya Disease has symptoms similar to Dengue Fever. However, Chikungunya Disease is characterised by a briefer episode of fever and by the absence of deaths.  Avoiding mosquito bites can prevent transmission of the disease.]

An outbreak of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease was reported in the capital of Thailand recently.  At least three kindergartens were temporally closed for disinfection to prevent the spread of the disease.  There were 1 473 reported cases in Thailand so far this year.

 

(Source: Oriental Daily News 15 July 2005)

In Humla district, western part of Nepal, hundreds of people were affected by an outbreak of diarrhoeal disease, of which 12 of them died.

                                                                                   

(Source: ASEAN Disease Surveillance 12 July 2005)

In Krasnoyarsk of Russia, 121 people, including 13 children, were hospitalised with Tick-borne Encephalitis during the period 26 June and 2 July.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 14 July 2005)

 

In Senegal, 532 new Cholera cases and 6 deaths were confirmed from 4 to 10 July.  The majority of the cases had occurred in the regions of Diourbel, Fatick, Dakar, Thies, Kaolack, Saint Louis and Tambacounda.

 

In western and central Guinea, 30 people had died in a Cholera outbreak and 377 people were infected.

 

In Uganda, 38 people died in a Cholera outbreak.  In addition, 905 people contracted the disease.  Cases occurred in Kampala, Arua, Nebbi and Gulu.

 

In Guinea-Bissau, 1 360 Cholera cases including 17 deaths had been confirmed since the beginning of the outbreak in June.  The majority of the cases were located in the capital Bissau, Biombo and Bula regions.

 

(Source: World Health Organization 15 July 2005, ProMED-mail 15 July 2005)

United Nations reported a 2nd Poliomyelitis case in Lobito of Angola, some 640 kilometers south of the capital city of Luanda, where the country's 1st new case in 4 years was reported earlier this month. Laboratory test revealed that the viruses of these 2 cases were genetically linked.

(Source: ProMED-mail 12 July 2005)

As of 10 July, a total of 351 cases of Marburg Haemorrhagic Fever were reported in Angola, of which 312 died.  A total of 64 contacts in Uige Province were being followed up currently.

 

(Source: World Health Organization 13 July 2005)

In the Jelalabad region of southern Kyrgyzstan, 183 persons had been diagnosed and hospitalised with Brucellosis.  It was thought that all of them fell ill after consuming infected meat and dairy products from domestic cattle.

 

(Source: ProMED-mail 12 July 2005)