Travel Health Service Year 2019

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 01/01/2019 *

	Cumulative reported no. of cases since 01/01/2019	Source of information and date of report
Australia	91	World Health Organization, 14 February 2019
Brazil	74,668	World Health Organization, 21 February 2019
Cambodia	876	World Health Organization, 14 February 2019
Guangdong, China	36	Health and Family Planning Commission of Guangdong Province, 15 February 2019
Japan	32^{^}	National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan, 19 February 2019
Lao PDR	545	World Health Organization, 14 February 2019
Malaysia	15,469	World Health Organization, 14 February 2019
Mexico	3,201	World Health Organization, 21 February 2019
The Philippines	12,431	World Health Organization, 14 February 2019
Singapore	1,572^@	Singapore National Environment Agency, 21 February 2019
Sri Lanka	7,966	Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, 21 February 2019
Taiwan, China	1”	CDC, ROC (Taiwan), 21 February 2019
Thailand	6,501	Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, 20 February 2019
Vietnam	15,540	World Health Organization, 14 February 2019

* Dengue reporting systems vary by country/area.
@Cumulative cases since 30 December 2018.
^ Cumulative cases since 31 December 2018.
” Locally-acquired

Cumulative reported number of dengue cases between 01/01/2018 and 31/12/2018 *

	Cumulative reported no. of cases since 01/01/2018	Source of information and date of report
India	89,974	Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, India, 25 November 2018
Macao, China	5”	Health Bureau of Macau, 6 November 2018

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

State of New York, USA: Measles [Update]

USA New York State continues to report measles cases. Rockland County has reached 138 cases since September 2018, while Brooklyn has reached 90 cases since October 2018.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 25 February 2019)

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ebola Virus Disease [Update]

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo continues. The number of cases has reached 872 and the total number of deaths is 548.

(Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 25 February 2019)

Saudi Arabia: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome [Update]

The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) recorded 80 cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome since the beginning of 2019.

(Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 25 February 2019)

Canada: Measles [Update]

Health officials in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada reported an increase in measles cases, in which 13 cases were reported since February 2019.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 25 February 2019)

The Philippines: Measles [Update]

The Philippines Department of Health has declared outbreak measles cases nationwide. During 1 January – 24 February 2019, a total of 12,736 cases have been reported across the country, including 203 deaths.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 24 February 2019)

Chad: Measles

Chad continues to report measles cases at high levels since declaring an outbreak on 30 May 2018. 2,000 cases including 11 deaths have been reported during 1 January to 15 February 2019.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 24 February 2019)

Ukraine: Measles [Update]

Ukraine continues to report measles at high levels. From 28 Dec 2018 to 15 Feb 2019, 21,355 cases have been reported across the country.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 23 February 2019)

Canada: Measles [Update]

Health officials in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada reported an increase in measles cases, in which 10 cases were reported since February 2019.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 23 February 2019)

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ebola Virus Disease [Update]

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo continues. The number of cases has reached 859 and the total number of deaths is 536.

(Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 22 February 2019)

The Philippines: Measles [Update]

The Philippines Department of Health has declared outbreak measles cases nationwide. During 1 January – 20 February 2019, a total of 11,459 cases have been reported across the country, including 189 deaths.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 22 February 2019)

Southeast Asia: Dengue Fever [Update]

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health reported the latest number of cases of dengue fever (DF), and again urged the public to maintain strict environmental hygiene, mosquito control and personal protective measures both locally and during travel.

From February 15 to 21, the CHP recorded five imported DF cases. The patients had been to Malaysia (three cases), Indonesia (one case) and Thailand (one case) during the incubation period.

As of February 21, 26 cases had been confirmed this year, all of which were imported cases. The cases were mainly imported from Indonesia (seven), Malaysia (five), Sri Lanka (four) and Thailand (four).

DF remains endemic in some areas of Asia and beyond. In Guangdong, there were 36 cases in the first month of this year. The latest figures for 2019 revealed that 6 501 cases had been recorded in Thailand, 15 469 in Malaysia and 1 572 in Singapore (since December 30, 2018).

(Source: Centre for Health Protection of Department of Health 22 February 2019)

France: Measles [Update]

Savoie, France has reported an outbreak of measles cases. 39 cases have been confirmed in Val Thorens since January this year.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 21 February 2019)

Madagascar: Measles [Update]

Since the onset of the outbreak in October 2018, as of 15 February 2019, a total of 68,912 measles cases have been reported in Madagascar, including 926 deaths.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 21 February 2019)

Mexico: Chagas Disease

In Yucatan state, Mexico , health officials are reporting an increase in the number of Chagas disease (also known as American trypanosomiasis) during the month of February 2019. Between 3 Feb and 9 Feb, 24 new cases have been confirmed while January 2019 just recorded 3 cases.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 21 February 2019)

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ebola Virus Disease [Update]

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo continues. The number of cases has reached 848 and the total number of deaths is 529.

(Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 20 February 2019)

Saudi Arabia: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome [Update]

The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) recorded 70 cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome since the beginning of 2019, including 1 death.

(Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 20 February 2019)

Nigeria: Monkeypox [Update]

Nigeria continues to report monkeypox since an outbreak in September 2017. In January 2019, 6 suspected cases were reported, of which 3 were confirmed cases.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 20 February 2019)

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ebola Virus Disease [Update]

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo continues. The number of cases has reached 844 and the total number of deaths is 528.

(Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy 19 February 2019)

Ireland: Measles

Ireland health officials have declared outbreak measles cases in Donegal recently this year. 7 cases have been recorded so far.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 19 February 2019)

Vietnam: Measles

Health officials of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam reported increase in measles activity this year. 926 cases have been recorded this year.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 19 February 2019)

Vietnam: Dengue Fever

Health officials of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam reported increase in dengue fever activity this year. 6,733 cases have been recorded this year, which is 3.5 times of the cases recorded in the same period of time last year. 1 death is also reported.

(Source: Outbreak News Today 19 February 2019)