Via Straits Times :
" Singapore has had its first dengue death this year. The victim, a woman who had been transferred from Changi General Hospital to Gleneagles Hospital under an existing agreement between the two, died on Wednesday.
The woman, believed to be in her late 50s, was moved to the private hospital at the end of last year. Her condition deteriorated and she was moved to intensive care. She died of dengue hemorrhagic fever."
Via Xinhua :
" The southern city of Foshan in Guangdong Province reported a new human H7N9 case on Wednesday, raising the total number of such cases in the province to 10 since August.
The 51-year-old female patient, surnamed Cui, was sent to hospital on Jan. 1. She is now in a critical condition, said the provincial health and family planning commission.
Cui bought a live chicken at a market and slaughtered it at home.
No abnormal conditions have been found in the 21 people who were in close contact with the patient.
Guangdong confirmed its first human case of H7N9 on Aug. 10. Two of its 10 cases were uncovered in Shenzhen, two in Foshan, one in Huizhou, two in Dongguan and three in Yangjiang."
Via Xinhua :
" A new case of human contraction of H7N9 bird flu has been confirmed in east China's Jiangsu Province, provincial health authorities revealed on Wednesday.
The patient is a 54-year-old woman in Nanjing, the provincial capital. Provincial medical experts confirmed late on Thursday that she had been infected.
She is being treated in a hospital in Nanjing.
Human cases of H7N9 have been reported in Zhejiang, Guangdong and Shanghai in January."
Press release from WHO :
" On 18 and 19 December 2013, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China notified WHO of two new laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus.
The first patient is a 62 year old man from Guangdong Province. He became ill on 11 December 2013 and was admitted to hospital on 16 December 2013. He is currently in critical condition. He has a history of exposure to live poultry.
The second patient is 38 year old man from Guangdong Province. He became ill on 9 December 2013 and was admitted to hospital on 18 December 2013. He is currently in critical condition."
Via Xinhua :
" Samples of goose meat taken from a Guangzhou market in south China's Guangdong Province have tested positive for H7N9 avian influenza.
Two goose meat samples and one sewage water sample from two poultry booths in a wet market in Zengcheng, a satellite city of Guangzhou, tested positive, Guangdong Provincial Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) confirmed on Sunday.
"It's serious that the water sample test is positive, because it means all the birds inside coops have the possibility of being infected with H7N9 avian influenza. The longer they stay in the coops, the risk of being infected rises," said Yang Zhicong, deputy chief of the Guangzhou municipal CDCP. The city government of Guangzhou, the provincial capital, is tracking the poultry source. The market was shut down on Saturday for three days so disinfection and cleaning can take place.
Meanwhile, 17 sales people working in nine poultry booths in the market are undergoing a week-long medical observation. So far, they have shown no signs of being infected with the bird flu, said Yang.
Bird flu, or avian influenza, is a contagious disease of animal origin caused by viruses that normally only infect birds and, less commonly, pigs. It can be fatal to humans.
Six human cases of H7N9 bird flu have been confirmed in Guangdong Province since August. None are from Guangzhou."
Press release from CHP :
" The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) today (January 4) verified with the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) an additional human case of avian influenza A(H7N9) in Shanghai affecting a man aged 86.
The case was confirmed yesterday (January 3) and the patient is currently admitted to a local hospital for treatment.
To date, a total of 145 human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) have been confirmed in the Mainland, including Zhejiang (51 cases), Shanghai (34 cases), Jiangsu (28 cases), Guangdong (six cases), Jiangxi (six cases), Fujian (five cases), Anhui (four cases), Henan (four cases), Beijing (two cases), Hunan (two cases), Shandong (two cases) and Hebei (one case).
The CHP will follow-up with the Mainland health authorities for more case details.
"Locally, enhanced disease surveillance, port health measures and health education against avian influenza are ongoing. We will remain vigilant and maintain liaison with the World Health Organization (WHO) and relevant health authorities. Local surveillance activities will be modified upon the WHO's recommendations," a spokesman for the DH remarked.
All border control points (BCPs) have implemented disease prevention and control measures. Thermal imaging systems are in place for body temperature checks of inbound travellers. Suspected cases will be immediately referred to public hospitals for follow-up investigation."
Via Edmonton Sun :
" A unit at the Stollery Children's Hospital had to be closed this week as Alberta Health Services confirms influenza cases have doubled once again.
Edmonton has seen 256 lab-confirmed cases of influenza — 236 of which were the dominant H1N1 flu strain — as of Dec. 27, said AHS chief medical health officer Dr. Gerry Predy on Tuesday.
"We have three different strains circulating but H1N1 is by far the most dominant one," he said, adding the season has caused some strain on the Stollery especially."
From Robert Roos at CIDRAP, excerpt :
" The wife of a United Arab Emirates (UAE) man who contracted Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is now infected but has no symptoms, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today as it confirmed the latest five cases reported in Saudi Arabia.
The six cases raise the WHO's MERS-CoV tally to 176 cases, including 74 deaths.
The new UAE case is in a 59-year-old woman from Sharjah who is married to a 68-year-old man whose case was reported earlier, the WHO noted. Despite having no symptoms, the woman is in isolation in a hospital.
She is reported to have no history of contact with animals or recent travel, the agency said. It also said other contacts of the couple have tested negative for the virus.
The woman's husband, who had been treated in an intensive care unit (ICU), has died, the WHO said. His illness was reported by the media on Dec 20 and noted by the WHO on Dec 22. He had diabetes and chronic kidney failure.
In confirming the five latest cases reported by Saudi Arabian authorities, the WHO added a little additional information. The Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) said all five people are from Riyadh."
Via Bernama :
" Dengue fever killed 88 victims up to Dec 21 this year, an increase of 151 per cent from the 35 fatal cases during the same period of last year, said the Director-General of Health, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Except for Terengganu and the Federal Territory of Labuan, the other states had reported fatalities with Selangor reporting the highest figure of 24 fatal cases, followed by Johor with 21 fatalities, said Dr Noor Hisham.
As for the other states, Melaka had nine fatalities; Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (8); Penang (7); Perak, Sarawak and Sabah had four each; Kelantan and Pahang (two each); while Perlis, Kedah and Negeri Sembilan had one death each.
He said the rise in dengue cases had been significant in 12 states compared with last year, which included Melaka with 229 per cent; Johor (191 per cent); Selangor (152 per cent); Negeri Sembilan (100 per cent); Perak (42 per cent), Labuan (40 per cent); Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (39 per cent); Penang (31 per cent); and Perlis (30 per cent)."
Via CTV News :
" Officials with Alberta Health Services have confirmed about a number of staff and patients at a west Edmonton hospital have been diagnosed with the flu, and some of those confirmed to be H1N1.
AHS officials said the outbreak was first detected earlier in December at the Misericordia Hospital, and there were about three lab-confirmed cases – two of those have been confirmed as H1N1, with a handful of other suspected cases of the flu.
Health officials said at the Misericordia Hospital, about 20 percent of staff had been immunized against the flu – that number was later revised to 42 percent.
Edmonton’s Medical Officer of Health with AHS, Dr. Chris Sikora, said he’s not sure why more healthcare providers aren’t getting the shot."
Via The Star :
" While the thought of contracting H1N1 may cause alarm, figures show that a deadlier killer is on the rise – dengue.
While just two people died from H1N1 this year, dengue has already claimed 83 people.
As of Dec 14, dengue cases rose by a whopping 87.5% (18,299), with 39,222 cases recorded this year compared to 20,923 last year.
The number of deaths, meanwhile, jumped by 137% to 83 deaths from 48 deaths in the same time period.
Health Ministry disease control division director Dr Chong Chee Kheong said many people still viewed dengue as a mild disease despite the fact that 10% to 15% of dengue cases were severe."
From WHO :
" WHO has been informed of an additional two laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia.
The first case is a 51 year-old female from Saudi Arabia, living in Jawf province with onset of symptoms on 20 November 2013. She has underlying chronic disease and was transferred to Riyadh for treatment in an intensive care unit. She had no reported contact with animals. The epidemiological investigation is ongoing. The second case is a 26 year-old female who is a non-Saudi healthcare worker in Riyadh. She is asymptomatic. She had reported contact with a 37 year-old male laboratory confirmed case that was reported to WHO on 21 November 2013.
Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 165 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 71 deaths."
