Current Travel Health News

In Indonesia, 4 774 cases of Dengue Fever were reported in Jakarta, that is 1 000 more cases than that reported in April. In South Kalimantan Province, 260 residents were affected by Dengue Fever, 6 of them died of the disease.

(Source: ProMED-mail 18 June 2008)

In Indonesia, the Ministry of Health announced two new human case of H5N1 Avian Influenza infection. The first is a 16-year-old female from South Jakarta. She had exposure to sick and dead poultry and died on 14 May. The second case is a 34-year-old female from Tangerang District. Investigations into the source of her infection are ongoing. Of the 135 cases confirmed to date in Indonesia, 110 have been fatal.

(Source: World Health Organization 18 June 2008)

In Laos, there are more than 200 Dengue Fever cases in Saravane Province and 73 cases in Sekong Province in 2008.

(Source: ProMED-mail 22 June 2008)

In the Philippines, 630 cases, including 5 deaths, were reported in Caloocan City. This is a 100% increase in Dengue Fever cases in the first 5 months of 2008, compared to the same period last year. An uncommon rise in Dengue Fever cases was also noted in Bago City with 56 cases, Silay City with 55, and Talisay City with 52 cases.

(Source: ProMED-mail 18 June 2008)

Maldives is experiencing an outbreak of Dengue Fever where 581 cases including 1 death was reported since January.

(Source: ProMED-mail 18 June 2008)

In Afghanistan, Cholera has broken out in the southern Kandahar Province, affecting 129 people in the Spin Boldak border town alone. The disease has broken out in 5 villages inhabited by 800 families where the inhabitants used to drink stream water.

(Source: ProMED-mail 17 June 2008)

Northern Nigeria is currently affected by a new outbreak of wild poliovirus type 1, which has begun to spread internationally. Both Benin and Niger have reported one case of Poliomyelitis respectively. In 2008, a nine-fold increase in new cases in Nigeria caused by this serotype has been reported compared with the same period in 2007. This new outbreak has occurred because upwards of 20% of children remain unimmunized in key high-risk areas for polio in the north of the country.

(Source: World Health Organization 18 June 2008)

In South Africa, 2 more cases of Cholera were confirmed in Barberton, bringing the total number of reported cases to 13. All the victims are believed to be illegal gold miners who drank contaminated underground water while digging for gold in abandoned mineshafts at the Sheba mine.

(Source: ProMED-mail 17 June 2008)

Cholera has infected almost 6 000 people in Sudan and killed at least 44 in 2008.

(Source: ProMED-mail 17 July 2008)

Outbreaks of Cholera were confirmed in Uganda. By 9 June, 36 cases, including 4 deaths were reported in Butaleja District. In a remote village of Mbale District, another outbreak of Cholera has claimed 3 lives. The epidemic is blamed on the dry season that has forced people to consume polluted water from rivers.

(Source: ProMED-mail 17 June 2008)

In Kitgum District of Uganda, over 3 082 cases of Hepatitis E with 64 deaths have been reported since October last year.

(Source: ProMED-mail 20 June 2008)

In Brazil, Minas Gerais confirmed the third deaths due to Dengue Fever this year. In Bahiay, 904 cases have been reported including 6 deaths. In Ceara, 25 836 laboratory-confirmed cases were reported. Pernambuco reported 28 509 suspected classical Dengue Fever cases, 3 800 of which have been confirmed and 17 died of the disease. In Rio Grande do Norte, 30 471 cases were reported.

(Source: ProMED-mail 18 & 22 June 2008)