Current Travel Health News
Travel Health News Digest (21 August 2005)
Health officials of New York, USA reported 1 738 cases of gastroenteritis across 20 counties in western and central New York. So far, 13 cases had been confirmed as Cryptosporidiosis. Cases were suspected to have contracted the disease in Seneca Lake Park. Health Department advised people to wash hands thoroughly after using toilet and to avoid swallowing water in the ponds, lakes or rivers when swimming.
(Source: ProMED-mail 21 August 2005)
[Editor’s Note: Cryptosporidiosis is a contagious water-borne disease. Symptoms include diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and fever. Symptoms usually last about 2 weeks. The disease usually goes away without treatment in healthy individuals.]
In USA, Massachusetts public health officials had confirmed 8 cases of Tularemia on Martha's Vineyard Island this year. The number of confirmed Tularemia cases was increased to 37 since the summer of 2000. Three of the 8 cases were pneumonic Tularemia which is a common form seen on the Island. Researchers suggested that landscapers were most at risk.
(Source: ProMED-mail 19 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 and has been reported in all U.S. states except Hawaii. 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 Kazakhstan: Avian Influenza, bird
While bird cases of Avian Influenza were identified in 6 Siberian regions in Russia, mass bird deaths were found in the west to their Ural Mountains. Health officials feared that migrating birds could export Avian Influenza virus to Western Europe, Africa and the Middle East over the coming months.
In northern Kazakhstan, over 100 domestic birds had died of bird flu. Quarantine measures and bird elimination had been implemented.
(Source: ProMED-mail 17 August 2005)
In Liberia, a Cholera outbreak had killed 134 persons near Butaw town (30 km north of the capital Greenville).
In Uganda, 26 deaths and 290 cases of Cholera had been reported in Arua district since mid-June. Most of the victims were women and children.
In Guinea-Bissau, a Cholera outbreak had claimed 112 lives and 6 600 cases since mid-June. Up to 70 people were being admitted into the main hospital of the capital Bissau daily.
In Guinea, 35 people had died of Cholera amongst a total of 733 cases recorded across the country since June. The capital Conakry was the worst hit area.
In Burkina Faso, the Cholera outbreak in the capital Ouagadougou had caused 4 deaths and affected at least 75 victims.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Cholera outbreak was reported in the eastern town of Goma.
(Source: ProMED-mail 19 August 2005)
Democratic Republic of Congo: Undiagnosed Disease
An unidentified respiratory disease had killed 29 people and infected 1 117 people in Maniema province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The illness began to spread since mid-July this year.
(Source: ProMED-mail 17 August 2005)
Fiji had confirmed 100 Typhoid Fever cases including 2 deaths this year. There were 38 cases in the Central Division, 61 in the North and 1 in the West. A new Typhoid outbreak involving 5 students was suspected in Bua, taking the total number of student cases in Bua to 45.
(Source: ASEAN Disease Surveillance 18 August 2005)
India: Japanese Encephalitis, suspected
In Uttar Pradesh state of northern India, an outbreak of suspected Japanese Encephalitis occurred with 110 deaths and over 170 victims being hospitalised. About 50 people died of the disease in Uttar Pradesh last year.
(Source: ProMED-mail 21 August 2005)
Japan and Mongolia: Avian Influenza, bird
In Japan, chickens at a farm in Konosu, Saitama (neighboring Tokyo), were tested positive for H5 Avian Influenza virus. However, the virus was considered to be of a weaker strain as no mass death of poultry had occurred.
In Mongolia, samples taken from wild migratory birds in Erkhel Lake near the Russian border were confirmed to be positive for H5N1 Avian Influenza virus. Around 100 out of a population of 6 500 birds were dead.
(Source: ProMED-mail 18 & 19 August 2005)
The Philippines: Hong Kong citizen contracted Dengue Fever
The Department of Health confirmed the twelfth case of imported Dengue Fever this year. The patient returned from the Philippines in early August and developed fever and skin rash one day later. She was hospitalised and was in stable condition.
(Source: Department of Health, Hong Kong SAR 18 August 2005)
[Editor’s Note: Travellers to the Philippines should adopt anti-mosquito measures. Residents are encouraged to stay alert to the threat of Dengue Fever and help in the reduction of mosquito breeding sites.]
In Iran, Cholera outbreak had spread to 13 provinces across the country. At least 8 people had died among 626 who had contracted the disease. The capital Tehran was the worst hit area.
In Banlekha of Nepal, 4 people had died of suspected Cholera and more than 2 dozen victims became ill.
In Lashio of northern Myanmar, many people had been hospitalised due to a recent outbreak of Cholera.
(Source: ProMED-mail 19 August 2005)
In the Philippines, 35 people had died of Dengue Fever this year. Cebu City had the highest number of cases with 543, followed by Mandaue City with 82 cases.
In Indonesia, 38 635 Dengue Fever cases with 539 deaths were reported this year. The highest number of Dengue Fever cases was reported in Jakarta with 10 847 cases including 57 deaths, followed by East Java with 6 007 cases including 84 deaths.
(Source: ASEAN Disease Surveillance 15 & 18 August 2005)