Tag Archives: typhoid

Chinese Taipei: Three more catch typhoid fever

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Three peo­ple who had trav­eled to Myan­mar tested pos­i­tive for typhoid in Feb 2013, the Tai­wan Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol (CDC) said. Two stu­dents and a busi­ness­man who vis­ited Myan­mar in Decem­ber 2012 and in Jan­u­ary 2013 began to develop symp­toms, includ­ing fever, headache, diar­rhea and loss of appetite in Feb­ru­ary 2013.

Lab­o­ra­tory tests con­firmed that all had typhoid fever, the CDC said. All were hos­pi­tal­ized, and two have since been dis­charged, it added. The cen­ter has traced and exam­ined the 73 peo­ple who have had con­tact with the patients. None have devel­oped typhoid-related symp­toms. That brings the total of typhoid cases in 2013 to five; the other two patients had trav­eled to Indonesia.

There were 29 con­firmed cases of imported typhoid fever, mainly from Indone­sia, Myan­mar, India, and the Philip­pines, between 2010 and 2012: 11 in 2010, 7 in 2011 and 11 in 2012.

Luo I-chun, a physi­cian spe­cial­iz­ing in dis­ease pre­ven­tion at the cen­ter, advised peo­ple trav­el­ing to South­east Asia to pay atten­tion to per­sonal hygiene and food san­i­ta­tion and to avoid uncooked food such as sal­ads. “Sal­ads may be con­t­a­m­i­nated by unwashed hands or bacteria-carrying flies. Trav­el­ers are also advised to drink bot­tled water,” Luo said. Luo also sug­gested get­ting vac­ci­nated before trav­el­ing to these areas. “There are 12 travel med­ical clin­ics where peo­ple can get vac­ci­nated,” Luo said, adding that trav­el­ers have to be at least two years old to receive the vaccine.

(ProMED 3/25/2013)

 

Philippines (Cebu): Tuburan typhoid cases down, but Alegria reports 11

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Even as the Province of Cebu is try­ing to fight the typhoid men­ace in the town of Tubu­ran, another 11 reported cases sur­faced in Ale­gria town. Seven chil­dren were brought to Rein­hard Wirt­gen Memo­r­ial Hos­pi­tal, while four were rushed to the nearby Mal­abuyoc Dis­trict Hos­pi­tal. Most of the cases came from Barangays Legaspi and Pobla­cion of Ale­gria. As of 12 March 2012, two patients were dis­charged from Rein­hard Wirt­gen Memo­r­ial Hos­pi­tal together with four oth­ers in Mal­abuyoc Dis­trict Hospital.

Dr. Expe­d­ito Medalla, DOH-Central Visayas Health and Emer­gency Man­age­ment Staff (HEMS) coor­di­na­tor, said there is a down­trend of patients in Tubu­ran. Although there are still peo­ple head­ing to the hos­pi­tal for con­sul­ta­tion, no more seri­ous cases were reported. He said the chlo­ri­na­tor in the water sys­tem helped in the decrease of patients.

This is the sec­ond time that the town of Ale­gria was struck by a typhoid out­break. The first one hap­pened in Decem­ber of 2010.
(ProMED 3/17/2012)

Philippines: Nearly 1,000 show signs of typhoid

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The num­ber of sus­pected typhoid fever cases in Tubu­ran town, north west Cebu Province has risen to more than 800 patients, said a Depart­ment of Health (DOH)-Central Visayas offi­cial. The province’s count is even higher: chief of the Inte­grated Provin­cial Health Office (IPHO) Dr. Cristina Giango said on 6 March 2012, that there were 999 sus­pected typhoid cases, includ­ing outpatients.

Neigh­bor­ing towns, the provin­cial gov­ern­ment and line agen­cies are pitch­ing in to con­tain the out­break, from clean­ing up the water sup­ply to dis­trib­ut­ing med­i­cine, relief goods and pledges to pay for hos­pi­tal bills. Provin­cial social wel­fare offi­cer Marivic Garces told the gov­er­nor that 50 sacks of rice and 30 car­tons of canned goods were already deliv­ered and dis­trib­uted to the affected residents.

Ren­nan Cimafranca, DOH-Central Visayas epi­demi­ol­o­gist, said the cases were iden­ti­fied based on the clin­i­cal man­i­fes­ta­tions of the patients whom health offi­cials exam­ined. These man­i­fes­ta­tions include fever, headache, stom­ach ache, dis­tended stom­ach, joint pains, and lack of appetite. Cimafranca said the typhoid out­break has not yet been con­tained and may take some time.

Cimafranca also said the health agency has dis­trib­uted med­i­cines, such as antibi­otics and antipyret­ics for those with fever, and sent 5 blood sam­ples for con­fir­ma­tory typhoid test­ing at the Research Insti­tute for Trop­i­cal Med­i­cine (RITM) in Manila.

So far, four deaths have been recorded since the typhoid out­break was reported. Gar­cia said two chlo­ri­na­tors are already oper­at­ing, with the help of the office of the town mayor and local social wel­fare office.

Engr. Adolfo Quiroga, Provin­cial Plan­ning and Devel­op­ment Office (PPDO) head, said they had already inspected Sitio Magda­gook of Barangay Calangahan’s pipes for any leaks. Water qual­ity con­tin­ues to be mon­i­tored in the town’s three water sources in Barangays Mar­mol, Calan­ga­han, and Ale­gria. Gar­cia said these pipes were installed dur­ing her sec­ond term, from 2007 to 2010. Local offi­cials sus­pect the con­nec­tions were dam­aged by the earth­quake that hit Cebu and Negros Ori­en­tal on 6 Feb­ru­ary 2012.

The Philip­pine Army’s 78th Infantry Bat­tal­ion also put up tents and fold­ing beds in an open area near the hos­pi­tal, to accom­mo­date the grow­ing num­ber of patients.
(ProMED 3/10/2012)

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