Category Archives: Asia

Australia: New cases of mosquito-borne chikungunya disease found in Cairns

Posted on by

In Cairns, two cases of the mosquito-borne dis­ease chikun­gunya have been con­firmed. Queens­land Health is on 26 April 2013 issu­ing a warn­ing for peo­ple to take pre­cau­tions against the virus, which is sim­i­lar to dengue fever in terms of symp­toms and mode of transmission.

Tests the week of 22 April 2013 revealed that two peo­ple who recently returned from Papua New Guinea had con­tracted chikun­gunya virus infec­tion, which includes symp­toms such as fever, pro­longed joint and mus­cle pain, headaches, rash and fatigue. Trop­i­cal Pub­lic Health Ser­vices staff have been spray­ing for mos­qui­toes in the neigh­bor­hoods where the two patients live.

The Cairns Post revealed that dur­ing the week of 15 April 2013, ento­mol­o­gists from Queens­land Health and James Cook Uni­ver­sity were mon­i­tor­ing chikun­gunya fol­low­ing an out­break in Papua New Guinea, where more than 3,000 peo­ple have been infected. The dis­ease is car­ried by two mos­quito species, Aedes albopic­tus and Aedes aegypti. Both also can trans­mit dengue fever virus, which has infected more than 110 peo­ple in Cairns, Inn­is­fail, and Port Dou­glas since Novem­ber 2012.

(ProMED 4/27/2013)

 

Indonesia: 165 people in East Jakarta suffered from chikungunya

Posted on by

Aside from the dan­gers of dengue fever, dur­ing chang­ing sea­son such as this one, the cit­i­zens were asked to be vig­i­lant with other dis­eases such as chikun­gunya virus infec­tion, because in East Jakarta, based on the local Health Sub Depart­ment, there are 165 cit­i­zens who suf­fered from that disease.

Those 165 chikun­gunya suf­fer­ers con­sist of 10 cit­i­zens in Palme­riam Urban Vil­lage, 22 cit­i­zens in Cakung­barat, 15 cit­i­zens in Jatine­gara, 20 cit­i­zens in Pon­dokke­lapa, 11 cit­i­zens in Rawa­t­er­ate, 16 cit­i­zens in Pon­dok­bambu, 6 cit­i­zens in Cip­inang­me­layu, 16 cit­i­zens in Halim Per­danakusumah, 25 cit­i­zens in Makasar, and 24 cit­i­zens in Pon­dokkopi. “From this num­ber, there are no dead peo­ple,” said Safarudin, Head of East Jakarta Health Sub Depart­ment, on 7 May 2013.

Prob­a­bly, such data will change by the end of 2013. How­ever, cit­i­zens are urged to remain calm and need not worry, because chikun­gunya dis­ease is not more dan­ger­ous than dengue fever.

He said the num­ber of chikun­gunya suf­fer­ers in East Jakarta is rel­a­tively high, caused by low cit­i­zen aware­ness to main­tain hygiene and a healthy lifestyle. “With anti-mosquito cam­paigns and “Hygiene and Health Lifestyle Behav­ior” these are the best solu­tions to han­dle dengue fever and chikun­gunya,” he said.

The full arti­cle may be accessed at http://www.promedmail.org/direct.php?id=20130509.1700484

(ProMED 5/9/2013)

Japan: Outbreak of rubella infections

Posted on by

Japan remains in the grip of rubella infec­tions (Ger­man measles) with the dis­ease spread­ing rapidly, and the National Insti­tute of Infec­tious Dis­eases reports that 5,442 peo­ple were diag­nosed with rubella dur­ing January-April 2013.

The infec­tions are 34 times more than that of the same period in 2012, the Insti­tute said, adding that the num­ber of new infec­tions had been ris­ing by more than 500 per week since the begin­ning of April 2013.

Nearly 90% of the patients are aged 20 or above, most of them men in their 20s to 40s or women in their 20s.

Health author­i­ties are call­ing for cau­tion, as babies born to women who con­tract the dis­ease dur­ing early preg­nancy may develop severe eye, ear, or heart prob­lems. Adults are urged to get vac­ci­nated, as the dis­ease is likely to peak around June, reported on 8 May 2013.

The full arti­cle may be accessed at http://www.promedmail.org/direct.php?id=20130508.1699530

(ProMED 5/8/2013)