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
India	157,220	Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, India, 24 December 2017

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

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	162	World Health Organization, 27 March 2018
Brazil	51,930	World Health Organization, 19 April 2018
Cambodia	247	World Health Organization, 27 March 2018
Guangdong	9	Health and Family Planning Commission of Guangdong Province, 13 April 2018
Japan	28	National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan, 17 April 2018
Lao PDR	24^#	World Health Organization, 29 March 2018
Macau	0”	Health Bureau of Macau, 8 March 2018
Malaysia	1,079^&	World Health Organization, 29 March 2018
Mexico	4,863	World Health Organization, 19 April 2018
Philippines	15,599	World Health Organization, 29 March 2018
Singapore	709^@	Singapore National Environment Agency, 19 April 2018
Sri Lanka	15,703	Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, 19 April 2018
Taiwan	0”	CDC, ROC (Taiwan), 19 April 2018
Thailand	7,082	Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, 19 April 2018
Vietnam	12,360	World Health Organization, 29 March 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.

Republic of the Congo: Cholera

Health officials in Republic of the Congo reported a suspected cholera outbreak since mid-March. As of 19 April 2018, there were 46 suspected cholera cases recorded from two departments: Plateaux (34 cases and one death) and Likouala (12 cases and one death).

(Source: Outbreak News Today 23 April 2018)

Japan: Measles [Update]

The Government of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan has recorded 71 confirmed measles cases as of April 23. More than half the cases have been reported from Naha and Nago.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 23 April 2018)

United Kingdom: Measles [Update]

Health officials in England reported an increase in measles cases in 2018. So far this year there have been 250 cases of measles reported in London compared to 243 reported in the capital for the whole of 2017.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 22 April 2018)

Taiwan: Measles [Update]

The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control reported two more confirmed cases of measles over the weekend. So far this year, there have been 22 confirmed measles cases in Taiwan (15 locally acquired and 7 imported).

(Source: Centers for Disease Control, R.O.C (Taiwan) 21 April 2018)

Brazil: Yellow Fever [Update]

Brazil reported 30 more lab-confirmed cases of yellow fever and 11 more deaths in the latest weekly update. Totally there were 1,157 confirmed cases of yellow fever and 342 deaths recorded so far in this outbreak.

(Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 20 April 2018)

Venezuela: Diphtheria [Update]

Venezuela has reported 1,602 suspected diphtheria cases since the start of outbreak in July 2016 until week 10 of 2018. There were 976 confirmed cases and 142 deaths.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 18 April 2018)

Global: Influenza [Update]

Influenza activity has decreased in most of the countries in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, with exception of Eastern Europe where activity continued to increase. In the temperate zone of the southern hemisphere, influenza activity kept at inter-seasonal levels. Globally influenza A and influenza B accounted for a similar proportion of influenza detections.

(Source: ProMED-mail 19 April 2018)

Japan: Measles [Update]

The Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health is closely monitoring an increase in the number of measles cases in Okinawa, Japan and appealed to the travellers and members of the public for vigilance and reiterated that vaccination is the most effective way to prevent the disease. According to the information from the Government of Okinawa Prefecture, there is an ongoing outbreak of measles since late-March involving a total of 65 confirmed cases (as of April 18). The outbreak was triggered by an imported case from Taiwan in late-March. Subsequently, 64 cases have been detected in Okinawa, including 25 cases (39.1%) in Naha and 11 cases (17.2%) in Nago. Among these 64 cases, 43 (67%) affected persons aged 20 to 49 years.

(Source: Centre for Health Protection 19 April 2018)

Taiwan: Measles

The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) reported five new measles cases confirmed in Taiwan, including 4 cases related to the recent cluster. Those 4 cases are employees of two different airlines. As of today, a total of 12 measles cases associated with the cluster have been confirmed. Taiwan CDC has recorded 18 measles cases so far this year, including 12 indigenous cases and 6 imported cases.

(Source: Centers for Disease Control, R.O.C (Taiwan) and Outbreak News Today 19 April 2018)

Togo: Avian Influenza, poultry

Togo reported its first outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza this year, involving backyard birds.

(Source: ProMED-mail 19 April 2018)

Switzerland : Tularemia

Health officials in Switzerland have reported a dramatic increase of tularemia in 2017 (130 cases) with a growing number of incidents with tick bites has been recorded over the past few years.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 18 April 2018)

Mainland China: Anthrax

At least three human cutaneous anthrax cases have been reported in two towns of Zhongwei City, Ningxia region where the patients had consumed tainted cow and mutton.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 18 April 2018)

Bolivia: Plague

Bolivia reported first bubonic plague case this year in the north of La Paz.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 18 April 2018)

Fiji : Meningococcal meningitis

Fiji declared a national outbreak of meningococcal C infection on 20 Mar 2018 as there have been 46 cases reported from 1 Jan to 12 Apr 2018.

(Source: ProMED-mail 18 April 2018)

Czech Republic: Measles

Health officials in the Czech Republic are reporting an increase in measles cases so far in 2018. For the first two months of the year, 29 cases have been reported. Half the cases were imported from Ukraine.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 17 April 2018)

Japan: Measles [Update]

So far, more than 50 cases have been confirmed in the measles outbreak on the island of Okinawa, Japan.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 17 April 2018)

USA: Salmonella

Health officials of USA are investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella infection linked to the eggs. There have been 23 people reported sick from nine states and 6 people required hospitalization.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 17 April 2018)

Saudi Arabia: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome [Update]

Saudi Arabia reported three new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and one death. Totally there were 1,834 cases of MERS-CoV and 741 deaths that have been reported since 2012.

(Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 17 April 2018)