Current Travel Health News
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. |
Source of information and date of report |
Australia |
333 |
World Health Organization, 11 April 2019 |
Brazil |
439,432 |
World Health Organization, 25 April 2019 |
Cambodia |
1,330 |
World Health Organization, 28 February 2019 |
Guangdong, China |
63 |
Health Commission of Guangdong Province, 15 April 2019 |
Japan |
86^ |
National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan, 23 April 2019 |
Lao PDR |
1,143 |
World Health Organization, 11 April 2019 |
Malaysia |
36,285 |
World Health Organization, 11 April 2019 |
Mexico |
10,581 |
World Health Organization, 25 April 2019 |
The Philippines |
55,976 |
World Health Organization, 11 April 2019 |
Singapore |
2,699@ |
Singapore National Environment Agency, 25 April 2019 |
Sri Lanka |
14,621 |
Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, 25 April 2019 |
Taiwan, China |
1” |
CDC, ROC (Taiwan), 25 April 2019 |
Thailand |
16,635 |
Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, 23 April 2019 |
Vietnam |
48,647 |
World Health Organization, 11 April 2019 |
* Dengue reporting systems vary by country/area.
@Cumulative cases since 30 December 2018.
^ Cumulative cases since 31 December 2018.
” 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.
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From April 12 to 25, the CHP recorded one imported DF case. The patient had been to Thailand during the incubation period.
As of April 25, 40 cases had been confirmed this year, all of which were imported. The cases were mainly imported from Indonesia (eight), Malaysia (eight) and Thailand (seven).
DF remains endemic in some areas of Asia and beyond. In Guangdong, there were 63 cases in the first three months of this year. The latest figures for 2019 reveal that 16,635 cases had been recorded in Thailand, 55,976 in the Philippines (which was 1.8 times the number of cases reported in the same period in 2018), 36 285 in Malaysia (which was 2.5 times the number of cases reported in the same period in 2018), 2,699 in Singapore (since December 30, 2018), 48,647 in Vietnam (which was 3.5 times the number of cases reported in the same period in 2018) and 86 in Japan. In the Americas, the latest figures indicate that 439,432 and 10,581 cases were filed in Brazil and Mexico respectively in 2019.
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