Current Travel Health News

The Ministry of Health of Indonesia had notified WHO of a new case of human infection with Avian Influenza (H5N1) virus. The case was a 2 year-old male from Riau Province. He developed symptom on 17 April and died on 27 April. Investigation was ongoing but preliminary findings indicated that the case’s parents were quail egg vendors.

To date, of the 189 cases reported in Indonesia since 2005, 157 have been fatal.

(Source: World Health Organization 2 May 2012)

Since the January floods in Fiji, 279 people had contracted Leptospirosis. Of them, 85 per cent were from the Western Division. There were 7 confirmed deaths reported.

(Source: ProMED-mail 30 April 2012)

The Federal Ministry of Health of Nigeria reported an increased number of cases of Lassa Fever. Nineteen of the country's 36 states had reported cases since the beginning of 2012, including the states of Edo, Bauchi, Plateau, and Taraba. As of 13 April 2012, there were reports of 818 suspected cases, including 84 deaths. At this time, 131 cases had been confirmed by laboratory testing.

(Source: ProMED-mail 28 April 2012)

There was an outbreak of cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. During the last 3 months, about 889 cases of cutaneous Leishmaniasis had been recorded from 14 districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

(Source: Promed Mail 29 April 2012)

As of 10 Apr 2012, a total of 534 647 cases, 287 656 hospitalizations, and 7 091 deaths had been reported in Haiti as a result of the Cholera outbreak since 20 October 2010.

(Source: ProMED-mail 3 May 2012)

As widespread violent clashes occurred in many cities across Syria, including Daraa, Latakia, Damascus, Baniyas, Aleppo, Homs and Hama, resulting in serious casualties, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has raised the Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) for Syria to Black. Residents are urged to avoid all travel to the country. Those already there should attend to their personal safety and avoid protests and large gatherings of people.

For more information, please visit the OTA webpage.

(Source: Security Bureau, Government of Hong Kong SAR 26 April 2011)

Following the hostage taking incident in the Philippines which had caused casualties, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has raised the Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) for the Philippines to Black. Hong Kong residents are urged to avoid all travel to the Philippines. Those already there should attend to their personal safety and stay alert.

For more information, please visit the OTA webpage.

(Source: Security Bureau, Government of Hong Kong SAR 20 September 2010)

For more information, please visit the World Health Organization webpage.