11 people confirmed dead, 10,000 infected in Fiji dengue fever outbreak

Via ABC News :

" Fiji's Health Department has confirmed 11 people have died and over 10,000 others have been infected during an outbreak of dengue fever.

The department's launched a major campaign to get rid of possible breeding areas for mosquitos which carry the disease.

The Health Minister Dr Neil Sharma says the outbreak involves the type-3 strain of dengue fever which has never been seen before in the country."

Australia : Swine flu cases confirmed on Palm Island

Via ABC News :

" Queensland Health has confirmed several cases of swine flu on Palm Island in north Queensland.

One patient was treated at the Townsville Hospital on Friday.

Cases of the virus have already been identified across parts of the state this year.

Palm Island Mayor Alf Lacey says residents should ensure they are vaccinated against the flu.

"Certainly I'd encourage all members of the community to attend and get their vaccinations shots at the health service or one of the providers in the town," he said.

He says the Indigenous community is vulnerable to contagious illnesses."

Australia : Cairns council warns of fines in dengue fight

Via ABC News :

 " The Cairns Regional Council is warning people could be fined up to $22,000 if they do not clear up mosquito breeding sites.

It has issued five public health orders in recent days after finding mosquito larvae in containers of water, and in one case, in the folds of a tarpaulin.

Acting Mayor Terry James says if there is non-compliance, individuals may be fined $550 and corporations up to $2,750, with larger penalties possible if the matter goes to court."

Australia : More dengue fever cases confirmed in Cairns

Via ABC News :

" There are now more than 70 confirmed cases of dengue fever in Cairns in far north Queensland.

Another 11 people have been diagnosed with the mosquito-borne illness since late last week.

Health authorities say a separate outbreak near Port Douglas remains steady, at 17 cases.

The Dengue Action Response Team is continuing to treat affected suburbs in Cairns."

Australia : Dengue fever makes early showing in far north Qld

Via ABC News : 

" Health authorities in far north Queensland are warning there could be more confirmed cases of dengue fever in coming days.

Three people have tested positive to the type one strain of the virus in Cairns in the past week.

Further north, 15 people have contracted the type three strain around Port Douglas and Miallo since October.

Dr Steven Donohue from Tropical Public Health Services says there are another four suspected cases.

He says mosquito control teams have been working in the affected areas."

FIFA World Cup organisers warned of dengue fever risk at 2014 Brazil tournament

Via ABC News :

" A leading expert in infectious diseases is urging Brazil to act aggressively to head off a risk from dengue fever at next year's World Cup.

The risk from the dangerous mosquito-borne virus will be greatest at matches played in three northeastern cities, Fortaleza, Natal and Salvador, said Simon Hay, a fellow at Oxford University, on Thursday.

In other cities, the dengue season is likely to have peaked before the June 12 - July 13 tournament, he said.

"Unfortunately, the risk remains high during these months in the northeast," Hay said in a commentary in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.

"The Brazilian authorities should implement aggressive vector control in April and May, particularly around the northern stadiums, to decrease the number of dengue-transmitting mosquitoes."

Australia : New dengue case sparks warning

Via ABC News :

" Port Douglas residents are being urged to take precautions against dengue fever after confirmation of a new case.

Queensland Health says it is the fifth case of the mosquito-borne virus in the far north this month.

The other cases were at Miallo in the Mossman area.

Dr Richard Gair from the Cairns Tropical Public Health Unit says people should use repellent and clear-up possible breeding sites around the home.

"We've already treated all the affected premises in Miallo, so we are now concentrating on anywhere that the new case in Port Douglas might have caught the disease from mosquitoes, so anywhere that the case had been in the incubation period we are checking and doing mosquito control," he said.

Dr Gair says a man was diagnosed with the virus on Friday."

Resistance to Malaria Drugs Has Spread in SE Asia

Article from ABC News, excerpt :

" International experts raised the alarm Tuesday over the spread of drug-resistant malaria in several Southeast Asian countries, saying it endangers major global gains in fighting the mosquito-borne disease that kills more than 600,000 people annually.

While the disease wreaks its heaviest toll in Africa, it's in nations along the Mekong River where the most serious threat to treating it has emerged.

The availability of therapies using the drug artemisinin has helped cut global malaria deaths by a quarter in the past decade. But over the same period, resistance to the drug emerged on Thailand's borders with Myanmar and Cambodia and has spread. It has been detected in southern Vietnam and likely exists in southern Laos, said Prof. Nick White of the Thailand-based Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit.

White, a leading authority on the subject, said that while there's no confirmed evidence of resistance in Africa, there's plenty of risk of transmission by air travelers from affected countries, such as construction laborers, aid workers or soldiers serving on peacekeeping missions."

Australia : Another bird flu outbreak near Young

Via ABC News :

" The NSW Department of Primary Industries says there's been a second outbreak of bird flu (avian influenza) near Young, in south-west New South Wales.

It says the outbreak is likely to have been passed on from the first outbreak in the area last week, where culling of 400,000 chickens has just been completed.

Initial testing at the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute confirmed the virus earlier today and the infected property has been placed under strict quarantine.

The department says tests are being carried out to try to confirm the origin of the latest incidence, but it's the H7 strain, not the H5N1 strain that's dangerous to humans."

Australia : Bird flu outbreak expected to devastate family business

Via ABC News :

" Thousands of chickens are set to be culled in an outbreak of bird flu in NSW. 

A farm that has 400,000 layer chooks in the state's south-west has been infected with the H7 strain of avian flu. 

Thats' not the strain that kills humans, and authorities have confirmed that eggs from the farm are still safe to eat. However, it could still devastate the family business involved."

Mexico : Cholera Kills 1, Sickens 158 in 5 States

Article via ABC News, excerpt :

" Mexican authorities say cholera has sickened 159 people, including one who died, and spread to four states and the capital. It is the first local spread of the disease since an outbreak that ended in 2001.

Health Secretary Mercedes Juan says one person died in the central state of Hidalgo, where 145 of the cases have been reported.

Juan said Monday the illness has also been detected in Veracruz, San Luis Potosi, Mexico City and neighboring Mexico state."

Nepal to cull 500,000 chickens near Kathmandu to combat major bird flu outbreak

Via ABC News :

" Half a million chickens are to be culled in a district on the outskirts of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, as efforts to combat a major outbreak of bird flu are stepped up.

Tens of thousands of birds have already been killed in what government officials have described as one of the country's worst outbreaks of avian flu.

Now authorities in the Himalayan nation have declared the area of Bhaktapur an emergency zone.

Some 62 cases of bird flu have been recorded at 250 poultry farms in three districts in the past few weeks, officials said.

A spokesman for the Directorate of Animal Health said the government ordered the cull to be stepped up after a week-long ban imposed on the sales of poultry products failed to control the H5N1 virus."

Australia : Research links melioidosis to stormwater run-off

Via ABC News :

" A north Queensland PhD student has uncovered a deadly link between stormwater run-off and the tropical disease melioidosis.

The disease can be fatal, and up until now was commonly believed to be spread through soil, where it naturally lives.

James Cook University's Andrew Baker discovered organisms linked to the disease in groundwater.

He says until more research is done, residents in the Torres Strait and north Queensland should take heed of the warning.

"You go out after rain and you see a lot of kids splashing around in the water and having fun," he said.

"If people are aware that this is a problem we can stop people going out playing in fresh water that is run-off then we could see a decrease in the number of casualties of melioidosis each year."

He says discovering the disease in stormwater run-off might explain why more infection rates are recorded after a big wet season."

Australia : Two typhoid cases halts transfer of asylum seekers

Via ABC News :

" The Immigration Department has halted the transfer of a planeload of asylum seekers from Christmas Island to the mainland because two detainees have typhoid.

The department says two people who arrived on separate boats have been diagnosed with the disease.

A spokeswoman says they were immediately isolated and one of the men has since been transferred to a hospital on the mainland.

The department says it is working with local and state health authorities to ensure the disease does not spread to Christmas Island residents.

There are just under 1,500 asylum seekers on the island."

Australia : SE Asia travellers warned of dengue fever danger

Via ABC News :

" The Northern Territory Centre for Disease Control says there have been more cases of dengue fever detected in the first two months of this year than the whole of 2011.

There CDC says there have been 34 cases in January and February, compared with 29 last year.

All were detected in travellers returning from trips to south-east Asia, including Bali and East Timor.

Dr Peter Markey says the incubation period is about a week and many people only realise they have the disease when symptoms arise at home.

"The big one, first of all, is fever," he said.

"Headache is invariable with dengue and it is usually behind the eyes.

"The most oppressive thing about dengue is the muscle and joint aches and pains.

"It really does give you this whole body ache.

"It is very difficult to move around.

"Some people call it breakbone fever."

Dr Markey says about half of the cases have required hospitalisation and the disease can be fatal."

Australia : Move to stem dengue fever risk in Charleville

Via ABC News :

" Queensland Health and local government authorities are working in Charleville in the state's south-west to minimise the risk of a dengue fever outbreak.

Authorities say they have been notified a Charleville resident recently contracted dengue during an overseas trip.

A team specialising in dengue mosquito control arrived yesterday in the town and has begun controlling the insects in properties deemed to be potentially at risk.

Queensland Health spokeswoman Christine Selvey says they are working with the Murweh Council to assess and control mosquitoes, but do not believe there is a high risk of a dengue outbreak.

Ms Selvey says the risk of residents contracting dengue locally is minimal."

Mexico Ups Swine Flu Screening as Cases Increase

Via ABC News, excerpt :

" Three years after swine flu closed Mexico City and caused an international scare, the Mexican government and local media are at odds over the severity of this season's flu virus. Newspapers are warning of an alarming increase in cases while the government insists there is no cause for alarm."

Rain hinders PNG landslide rescue effort

Via ABC News, excerpt :

" Rescue teams are arriving at the site of a deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea, but continuing wet weather and fears of another landslide are hampering their efforts.

Tumbi village near Tari, in the country's Southern Highlands, is now a mess of millions of cubic metres of rock and soil.

The landslide area is about one kilometre long and several hundred metres wide. Some of the boulders dislodged are the size of cars.

Thousands of people have gathered at the site, many with mud smeared on their faces in a sign of mourning.

PNG prime minister Peter O'Neill has inspected the area and vowed to investigate the cause of the disaster.

Mr O'Neill said an independent team of investigators would be appointed to determine the cause and he promised to help relocate those affected and to find their loved ones.

'A huge task'

Andrew Alphonse, a senior reporter from the PNG Post Courier who spent the day at Tumbi village, says locals have named 26 people they believe have been buried underneath the landslide.

He told Radio Australia's Asia Pacific that operations to retrieve the bodies have not officially started because of the difficult conditions."

Australia : Top End warned to beware of tropical diseases

Via ABC News, excerpt :

" The husband of federal MP Natasha Griggs is recovering in Royal Darwin Hospital after contracting the dangerous soil-borne disease melioidosis.

The Member for Solomon says her husband went to see a doctor because a cut on his leg was not healing.

Ms Griggs thinks he caught melioidosis while mowing the lawn, despite being vigilant."

Australia : More dengue mosquito eggs found at Tennant Creek

Via ABC News :

" An estimated one in 10 properties at Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory have been found to house dengue mosquito eggs.

The dengue mosquito was not present in the Territory until it was found outside a local sports club in mid-November.

The insects are the only mosquitoes that can carry dengue fever.

But they cannot do so unless they bite someone already infected with the virus.

So far, no Tennant Creek locals are carrying the disease but authorities are worried the eggs could hatch as a traveller suffering dengue fever arrives.

Health Department officers are conducting a control program in the area."