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.
Detailed information on the latest Dengue fever situation in Hong Kong, as well as neighbouring and overseas countries and areas, can be found at the Centre for Health Protection’s website: https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/df_imported_cases_and_overseas_figures_eng.pdf
Travellers planning to travel in these areas should take precautions against the disease. 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.
For more information on dengue fever, including the latest situation in neighbouring and overseas countries and areas, please visit the Centre for Health Protection’s thematic webpage at https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/features/38847.html
Take precautions against Mpox (also known as monkeypox) when travelling abroad
Mpox (also known as monkeypox) is a zoonotic disease caused by Mpox virus. Often found in tropical forest regions of Central and West Africa.
It is mainly transmitted by contact with infected animals, human-to-human transmission is limited. Incubation period is mainly from 6 to 13 days, symptoms are similar with Smallpox infection, but less severe.
Since 6 May 2022, multiple outbreaks were reported in Europe and North America countries, and many patient are self-identified as bisexual or men who have sex with men. Travellers planning to travel in these areas should avoid contact
with infected person. Travellers returning from these areas shall notify the doctor to seek medical treatment and inform the travel situation if feeling unwell.
For more information on Mpox, including the latest situation in overseas countries or places, please visit the World Health Organization and Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection’s thematic webpages at: https://www.who.int/health-topics/monkeypox#tab=tab_1
https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/features/105683.html
Japan: Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome
1 April 2024
In
Japan, infections of
streptococcus bacteria are being diagnosed at quadruple the pace of the past five years. As of March 10, Japan recorded 474 cases of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (SSTS), which has a fatality rate of up to 30%.
Africa: Yellow Fever [Update]
28 March 2024
Since the beginning of the year, a total of 243 Yellow Fever cases have been reported to date from five African Union countries, according to the Africa CDC. 13 confirmed cases have been recorded out of the 243 total.
The five countries reporting cases include the Central African Republic (CAR) with 11 cases and no deaths, Cameroon (8,0), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (83,0), Gabon (28,0) and South Sudan with 87 cases.
Puerto Rico: Dengue Fever
28 March 2024
In response to the situation of spread of the
Dengue virus in
Puerto Rico so far this year, the Secretary of the Department of Health issued a declaration of public health emergency due to dengue. According to the Surveillance update, currently there have been registered 549 cases.
Peru: Dengue Fever [Update]
28 March 2024
In a follow-up on the
Dengue Fever situation in
Peru, the country’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports 79,741 cases of the mosquito-borne infection though March 22, 2024. This is an increase in cases of 262 percent compared with the same period in 2023.
Laos: Anthrax [Update]
28 March 2024
In a follow-up on the human
Anthrax outbreak in southern
Laos, officials now report 54 human cases in Champassak province. The cases are linked to contact with tainted cattle. This is up from 14 cases reported one week ago.
Colombia: Yellow Fever
28 March 2024
In the department of Putumayo in Colombia, three fatal cases of Yellow Fever were confirmed, coming from the rural areas of the municipalities of Villa Garzón, a 66-year-old man, Valle del Guamuez, a 20-year-old man, and Orito, a 26-year-old man.
According to the Pan American Health Organization, all cases had a history of exposure to wild or wooded areas, due to agricultural work activities, with no history of vaccination against yellow fever.
Chile: Dengue Fever
28 March 2024
The
Chile Ministry of Health reports on 3 confirmed indigenous cases of
Dengue on Easter Island. Due to this, measures and actions have been established in the presence of the disease.
Brazil: Chikungunya Fever
28 March 2024
According to the most recent data from the
Brazil Ministry of Health Friday, 99,252 total
Chikungunya virus cases have been reported to date, up 69 percent compared to the 58,586 cases reported in 2023 for the same period.
Czech Republic: Pertussis [Update]
28 March 2024
The National Institute of Public Health (SZU) of
Czech Republic has reported an additional 1,436
Pertussis cases in the past two weeks, including more than 800 last week alone. This brings the total pertussis cases reported since the beginning of the year through March 17 to 3,101. This is the highest number of registered cases of the infectious disease in the country in a single calendar year since the 1960s.
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Plague
28 March 2024
Since the beginning of this year, health zones of Logo and Rethy in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reported an unusual number of suspected cases of
Plague with significant fatality. As of 20 February 2024, 99 cases and seven deaths (CFR 7.1%) have been reported from the two health zones, including 84 cases of bubonic plague, 11 cases of pneumonic plague and four of septicemic plague.
Argentina: Dengue Fever [Update]
28 March 2024
The
Argentina Ministry of Health reports that from the beginning of August 2023 through March 9 this year, 120,007 cases of
Dengue were registered in Argentina, including 79 fatalities.
Nigeria: Meningitis [Update]
28 March 2024
The
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) reported an additional 1,201 total
bacterial meningitis cases and 79 deaths from nine states since late February.
Pakistan: Poliomyelitis
28 March 2024
A child has been paralyzed by wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in Dera Bugti district of Balochistan, marking the first
Polio case of 2024 in
Pakistan on February 22.
USA: Escherchia Coli [Update]
28 March 2024
The
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and public health officials in several states report investigating a multistate
E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to Raw Farm brand raw cheddar cheese. As of February 28, 2024, a total of 11 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli have been reported from 5 states— California (4), Colorado (3), Utah (2), Texas (1) and New Jersey (1). Five people required hospitalization for their illness and 2 developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious condition that can cause kidney failure. No deaths have been reported.
USA: Measles [Update]
28 March 2024
Over the weekend, public health officials in Illinois and New York identified three more
Measles cases. Chicago has reported 4 new cases, pushing its total to 26, most linked to a migrant shelter, with 19 occurring in children 4 years and younger and 6 in adults aged 18 to 49. Two of the
US cases were reported last week in Washtenaw County, Michigan, where authorities announced a second case in an adult without measles immunity exposed to the county's index case.
(Source: CIDRAP 26 March 2024)
Vietnam: Avian Influenza
28 March 2024
Vietnam's health ministry today announced that a recently reported
H5 Avian Flu infection in Khanh Hoa province was the H5N1 subtype. The infection involved a 21-year-old college student whose H5 infection was initially reported last week by the media and was confirmed by provincial health authorities. Epidemiologic investigation found that the man had trapped wild birds near his home before and after the Lunar New Year holiday.
(Source: CIDRAP 26 March 2024)
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Mpox (monkeypox) [Update]
28 March 2024
So far the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported 3,941 suspected Mpox cases this year, 271 of them fatal, for a CRF of 7%—much higher than the global CFR of less than 0.2%. Only 389 of the DRC cases have been lab-confirmed, which the WHO said points to diagnostic challenges in the country.
(Source: CIDRAP 23 March 2024)