Travel Health Service Year 2017

Current Travel Health News

Take precautions against dengue fever when travelling abroad

Dengue fever is now endemic in more than 100 countries in Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. This includes various popular tourist destinations for Hong Kong people including the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Travellers planning to travel in these areas should take precautions against the disease.

Cumulative reported number of dengue cases since 01/01/2017 *

	Cumulative reported no. of cases since 01/01/2017	Source of information and date of report
Guangdong	1,752	Health and Family Planning Commission of Guangdong Province, 15 January 2018
India	157,220	Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, India, 24 December 2017
Philippines	131,827	World Health Organization, 30 January 2018

Remarks:
* Dengue reporting systems vary by country/area.

# Cumulative cases since 2 January 2017.

Cumulative reported number of dengue cases since 01/01/2018 *

	Cumulative reported no. of cases since 01/01/2018	Source of information and date of report
Australia	55	World Health Organization, 30 January 2018
Brazil	9,396	World Health Organization, 8 February 2018
Cambodia	36	World Health Organization, 30 January 2018
Japan	6	National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan, 6 February 2018
Lao PDR	16	World Health Organization, 30 January 2018
Macau	0"	Health Bureau of Macau, 24 January 2018
Malaysia	1,153^@	World Health Organization, 30 January 2018
Mexico	1,295	World Health Organization, 8 February 2018
Singapore	335^@	Singapore National Environment Agency, 8 February 2018
Sri Lanka	8,060	Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, 8 February 2018
Taiwan	0”	CDC, ROC (Taiwan), 8 February 2018
Thailand	1,661	Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, 6 February 2018
Vietnam	4,635	World Health Organization, 30 January 2018

* Dengue reporting systems vary by country/area.
@ Cumulative cases since 31 December 2017.
“ Locally-acquired

Travellers should stay vigilant against dengue fever and adopt the following personal preventive measures against mosquito bite:

*	Always wear loose, light-coloured long-sleeved tops and trousers;
*	Stay in air-conditioned residence or places with mosquito screens;
*	If mosquito screen or air-conditioning is absent, aerosol insecticide and bed nets are advised;
*	Use insect repellents containing DEET on exposed skin and clothing;
*	Use insect repellents containing DEET apart from applying sunscreen while staying in beaches;
*	Re-apply insect repellents according to instructions during the trip;
*	Carry a portable bed nets and apply permethrin on it as well as to clothes if travelling to rural areas where dengue fever is prevalent.

Travellers returning from areas where dengue fever is prevalent should seek medical advice as soon as possible if they feel unwell and provide travel details to their doctors.

Saudi Arabia: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome [Update]

Saudi Arabia reported 25 laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), including 8 associated deaths in January 2018. Totally there were 1,796 cases of MERS and 731 deaths that have been reported since 2012.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 20 February 2018 and Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 19 February 2018)

South Africa: Avian Influenza, wild birds

South Africa reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza involving Western Cape province sea birds.

(Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 19 February 2018)

Iraq: Avian Influenza, poultry

Iraq reported two more outbreaks of H5N8 avian influenza on poultry farms, one in Diyala province and another in Baghdad province.

(Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 19 February 2018)

Mozambique: Cholera [Update]

Mozambique reported an outbreak of cholera in October 2017. From 14 August 2017 through 11 February 2018, 1799 cases and one death of cholera were reported from the two provinces; Nampula (1580 cases) and Cabo Delgado (219 cases). The weekly number of cases in 2018 has fluctuated between 30 and 60 cases.

(Source: World Health Organization 19 February 2018)

Yemen: Cholera [Update]

Yemen reported 1,051,789 suspected cholera cases and 2252 associated deaths from 27 April 2017 to 28 January 2018.

(Source: ProMED-mail 18 February 2018)

South Africa: Listeriosis [Update]

As of 14 February 2018, 872 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases have been reported to National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) of South Africa from all provinces since 01 January 2017. A total of 164 death cases were reported, 43 percent of which were babies less than a month old.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 17 February 2018)

Brazil: Yellow Fever [Update]

Brazil has reported 407 yellow fever cases since July of 2017, including 118 deaths.

(Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 16 February 2018)

Mainland: Avian Influenza, human

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) today (February 14) received notification from the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) of China that a human case of avian influenza A (H7N4) was confirmed from February 10 to 14, and reminded the public to maintain strict personal, food and environmental hygiene both locally and during travel.
According to the NHFPC, this is the first case of human infection with avian influenza A (H7N4) in the world. The case involved a 68-year-old female patient living in Liyang in Changzhou of Jiangsu Province who developed symptoms on December 25, 2017. She was admitted to hospital for medical treatment on January 1 and was discharged on January 22. She had contact with live poultry before the onset of symptoms. All her close contacts did not have any symptoms during the medical surveillance period.

(Source: Centre for Health Protection 14 February 2018)

France: Measles

French health authorities reported south western France has been hit by an epidemic of measles since November 2017. As of 13 February 2018, there were 269 confirmed cases and 1 death. Health officials claimed 90 percent of cases of measles were not or were poorly vaccinated.

(Source: ProMED-mail 14 February 2018)

Ghana: Avian Influenza, poultry

Ghana reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H9N2 avian influenza in a farm of Dormaa Municipal district.

(Source: World Organisation for Animal Health 14 February 2018)

Ireland: Avian Influenza, wild birds

Ireland recently reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N6 avian influenza in wild eagles.

World Organisation for Animal Health 14 February 2018)

Saudi Arabia: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome [Update]

The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health confirmed a new case of a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia has reported 1,794 MERS-CoV cases since 2012, including 731 deaths.

(Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 13 February 2018)

Namibia: Hepatitis E

Namibia has reported 643 hepatitis E cases since September 2017. There were 50 laboratory confirmed cases and 3 women died post-delivery.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 13 February2018)