Current Travel Health News

As of 9 May, about 25 000 cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease including 34 deaths were reported in  the Mainland. There were 131 cases in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, 134 in Tianjin, 9 in Qinghai Province, nearly 2 000 cases in Zhejiang Province, 925 cases including 3 deaths in Guangdong Province and 6 545 cases including 22 deaths in Anhui Province. Last year, there were 80 000 cases including 17 deaths in the whole country.

In Beijing, as of 4 May, a total of 1 482 cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease were reported this year. Among these, there were 15 cases of EV71. There were no reports of fatalities.

(Source: ProMED-mail 5 to 9 May 2008 and Xinhuanet 10 May 2008)

As of 7 May 2008, health authorities of Macao reported 79 cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, 4 of them were confirmed Enterovirus 71 infections.

(Source: ProMED-mail 7 May 2008)

In Taiwan, as of 6 May, there were 64 cases of severe enterovirus infection; among them, 62 were caused by Enterovirus 71. Majority of the cases have been discharged from the hospitals, 2 cases died of the disease.

(Source: Centers for Disease Control, Taiwan 6 May 2008)

In Japan, more cases of H5N1 Avian Influenza among wild birds were reported in the country. After the initial report in Akita Prefecture, another two wild swans were killed by the disease in Hokkaido.

(Source: ProMED-mail 11 May 2008)

In South Korea, an outbreak of Avian Influenza has spread to Seoul on 6 May 2008. A total of 4 dying birds in a bird vivarium located in eastern Seoul were tested positive of H5 Avian Influenza virus. All the 57 birds were culled. 131 birds were killed by an outbreak of in Can Tho city. The Avian Influenza outbreaks were initially reported in Jeolla Region in the southwest in early April this year, then spreading to Gyeongsang Region in the southeast and then 2 cities in Gyeonggi Province in the south.

(Source: ProMED-mail 11 May 2008)

Cholera has broken out in 2 areas of Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta where hundreds of thousands of cyclone victims are living with no fresh water or food.

(Source: ProMED-mail 8 May 2008)

In Indonesia, 473 cases of Chikungunya Fever were reported in Central Java during the first 4 months of this year.

(Source: ProMED-mail 5 May 2008)

In Central Java of Indonesia, a total of 160 Dengue Fever cases including 7 deaths were reported during the first 3 months of this year. Two children died from the disease in April this year.

(Source: ProMED-mail 5 May 2008)

The Ministry of Health of Singapore has confirmed the 17^th case of Chikungunya Fever this year. Thirteen cases have been infected locally, while the remaining 4 caught the disease overseas.

(Source: ProMED-mail 8 May 2008)

A total of 1 246 cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease was notified to Ministry of Health, Singapore in the week ending 10 May 2008. This brings the total number of notified cases in 2008 so far to 11 736. 18 cases required hospitalisation last week. There were no cases with serious complications.

(Source: Ministry of Health, Singapore 13 May 2008)

In Vietnam, 1 131 birds were killed by an outbreak of Avian Influenza in Can Tho city.

(Source: ProMED-mail 11 May 2008)

In Toronto, Canada, a total of 9 Measles cases were reported so far this year. Among these, 4 new cases were reported in the past few days. Previous, only about 3 cases were seen each year.

(Source: ProMED-mail 9 May 2008)

In Brazil, 121 586 cases of Dengue Fever including 103 deaths were reported so far this year.

(Source: ProMED-mail 5 May 2008)

In Peru, as of 26 April this year, there were 3 confirmed and 6 probable cases of Yellow Fever. All of the confirmed cases were fatal.

(Source: ProMED-mail 6 May 2008)