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Health Information Update

Source: WHO, Event Information Site for IHR National Focal

Event Updates:  17 to 28 July 2017

Event Updated Country Hazard Disease Event Description IHR Assessment
2017-07-28 Côte d’Ivoire Infectious Dengue Fever On 6 May 2017, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Côte d’Ivoire notified WHO a dengue fever outbreak in Abidjan, the capital city. The first suspected cases were reported on 28 April 2017. As of 11 July 2017, a total of 623 suspected cases including two (2) deaths (CFR: 0.3%) have been reported. A total of 192 have been confirmed by PCR with dengue serotype 2 accounting for 66 % of isolated serotypes. In addition, 90 samples were confirmed IgM positive by serology.

The majority of cases are being reported from Abidjan city. The general trend of suspect cases of the outbreak is increasing. From 4 to 11 July 2017, 142 new suspected cases were reported while 37 new cases were reported from 27 June to 4 July 2017. 55% of the affected people are aged 30 years and above while 27% are between 15 and 29 years. Female gender is the most affected with 54 % of the cases. The main predisposing factors for the outbreak are the high density of mosquito breeding sites, insufficient awareness on mosquito breeding and biting in community and the ongoing rainy season.

 Public Health Risk (PHR)
2017-07-24 Yemen Infectious Cholera The Ministry of Public Health and Population (MoPHP) confirmed a cholera outbreak in Yemen in October 2016, which subsequently spread to almost 165 districts in 16 Governorates by the end of December 2016. The trend of the cholera outbreak and case-fatality rate then declined during the period January to March, with the number of districts reporting suspected cholera cases dropping to 25. The decline in the epidemic curve could be partly attributed to the health and WASH interventions.

The Ministry of Public Health and Population (MoPHP) reported resurgence of the outbreak during the last week of April 2017, which since has resulted in a cumulative total of 262 650 suspected cases and 1587 deaths (CFR: 0.6%) in 21 of the country’s 23 governorates, by 2 July 2017.

On 14 May, the MoPHP declared a state of emergency stating that the health system is unable to contain this unprecedented health and environmental disaster.

 

 Public Health Risk (PHR)
2017-07-17 Netherlands (the) Infectious Poliomyelitis, acute paralytic, wild virus, indigenous Update on the accidental release of wild poliovirus type 2 in a vaccine production facility in The Netherlands and subsequent infection of an exposed factory worker:

Update provided by the Dutch authorities:

The infected individual stopped excreting the virus on 1 May 2017, 28 days after having been infected during the spill of WPV2 on 3 April 2017 (6 subsequent samples collected from this individual were negative for WPV2).

WPV2 was detected in the sewage system downstream of the residence of the infected individual on 11 April, 20 April and 3 May but not anymore in samples collected 16 May and 30 May.  

No further spread of the virus was detected. The routine surveillance for polioviruses in the country continues.

 Public Health Risk (PHR)
2017-07-14 Sri Lanka Infectious Dengue Fever

 

 Since January until 7th July 2017, Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health (MOH) Sri Lanka, reported 80,732 dengue cases, including 215 deaths. This is a 4.3 fold higher than the average number of cases for the same period between 2010 and 2016, and the monthly number of cases exceeds the mean plus 3 standard deviations for each of the past 6 months. Based on sentinel site surveillance for the past 7 years the expected peak months of May – July coincides with the south-western monsoon which commences in late April.  Although all four DENV have been co-circulating in Sri Lanka for more than 30 years, DENV-2 has been infrequently detected since 2009.

Current Dengue outbreak occurs in a context of massive heavy rains and flooding and affecting  15 out of 25 districts in Sri Lanka where almost 600 000 people have been affected. Due to heavy monsoon rains and public failure to clear rain-soaked garbage, standing water pools and other potential breeding grounds for mosquito larvae number of cases is higher in urban and suburban areas.

 Public Health Risk (PHR)
2017-07-14 China Zoonosis Influenza due to identified avian or animal influenza virus To date, a total of 1,554 laboratory-confirmed human infections with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus have been reported through IHR notification since early 2013.

The Chinese government at national and local level is taking preventive measures which include:

1.       Continuing to guide the provinces to strengthen assessment, and prevention and control measures. 

2.       Continuing to strengthen control measures focusing on hygienic management of live poultry markets and cross-regional transportation;

3.       Conducting detailed source investigations to inform effective prevention and control measures;

4.       Continuing to detect and treat human infections with avian influenza A(H7N9) early to reduce mortality;

5.       Continuing to carry out risk communication and issue information notices to provide the public with guidance on self-protection; and

6.       Strengthening virology surveillance to better understand levels of virus contamination in the environment as well as mutations, in order to provide further guidance for prevention and control.
 

 Public Health Risk (PHR)

*A public health risk is something that is (or is likely to be) hazardous to human health or could contribute to a disease or an infectious condition in humans.