Outbreak Information and News
17 Deaths from Rabies now
confirmed in Bali
The Rabies outbreak has now spread to the north coast of
Bali.
We now have a confirmed case of rabies in East Bali, at Kubu,
which is on the coast, just north of the tourist diving
resorts Tulamben and Amed. We also had positive cases north
of Ubud in Petang, about half way from the original case on
the south coast to the north coast. Thus, a year after
rabies was identified on the isolated Bukit peninsula, south
of the Denpasar airport, cases have now been identified
throughout the heavily populated south east and eastern
portions of Bali.
So far no cases have been identified within the major cities
of Ubud and Gianyar, and only a few on the outskirts of
Denpasar the capital city, but cases now have occurred on
all sides of these densely populated communities.
Travellers to Bali need to be aware to
avoid contact with
animals and seek vaccination if they are bitten, or even
licked over a wound.
Some travellers may be recommended vaccination prior to
travel to make treatment easier in the event of an animal
bite.
Mumps in UK
From the BBC. There are large
numbers of mumps cases being reported from the East of
England (467 cases this year to July compared to 136 for
same time last year). Australians born between 1966 and 1981
are recommended the free MMR
vaccine (Measles Mumps Rubella) vaccine before
travelling to the UK.
Hepatitis A outbreak in Russia
From Promed. An outbreak of
hepatitis A reported in the Ryazansk Oblast. About 20
children in the village of Kostin
in the Ribnovskii region have contracted
hepatitis A virus. Most of the infected children are pupils
of a local residential school. Among the possible causes of
the outbreak is the poor quality of the drinking water
available in the village of Kostin.
Outbreaks of hepatitis have been recorded frequently in
Russia. Hepatitis A is a viral liver disease that can cause
mild to severe illness. Hepatitis A
virus is spread by faecal-oral transmission when
a person ingests food or drink contaminated by another
infected person's stool. The disease is closely associated
with poor sanitation and a lack of personal hygiene, such as
hand-washing.
Vaccination is available against
Hepatitis A - two doses of vaccine 6 months apart
and then you are protected for life. The location of the
Ryazansk Oblast of Russia can be found at
wikipedia.org.
Q Fever was
first recognised in
Australia during the 1930's when workers at a Brisbane meat
processor became ill with a fever. As the cause of the
illness was unknown, the workers were diagnosed with 'Query'
fever. This was eventually abbreviated to Q Fever.
www.qfever.com.au aims to give some
basic information about the vaccine and who needs to be
vaccinated, as well as some links to more detailed
information.
Q Fever occurs almost everywhere in the world.
Humans catch
it from animals. In Australia, cattle, sheep and goats are
the main reservoir, although bandicoots, kangaroos and dogs
can be infected. In Canada Q Fever has occurred from
exposure to cats and rabbits. Man can be infected with the
germ (Coxiella Burnetti) following contact with infected
animals or products from these animals, urine, faeces or
milk birth products.
Volunteering Holiday in Cambodia
The mission was to build
fish ponds
I was fortunate enough to be one
of a party of nine Australians who went on a volunteering
holiday, taking in Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham, and Siem Reap;
all in Cambodia, before journeying overland to Bangkok. From
there, it was a short flight north to Chang Rai. Our mission
was to finance and help build fish ponds for some of the
Hill Tribes people who live in the outlying countryside.
Each village took about an hour
to reach over fairly rough terrain. The view of the
beautiful hill country was easily appreciated from an open
backed four wheel drive which transported us back and forth
each day.
Villagers would direct us to
where they wanted their fish ponds dug. A square measuring
four by four metres was marked out on the ground, and we
would dig until we had gone down by one and a half metres. A
bamboo frame around the hole was expertly formed by the
local men. Black plastic was laid in the hole, and mountain
stream water was diverted via a long hose. Three hundred
baby carp were then tipped into each pond. These would
mature within three months, and be a useful protein addition
to the villager’s diets. Alternatively, the fish could be
sold so as to generate an income.
We worked on alternate days, and
went sightseeing in between, so as to give ourselves some
recovery time between diggings. On one of our sightseeing
days we headed up to the border and crossed into Myanmar. On
another day, we went for a longboat ride along the Mae Kok
River to visit the Karen Tribes people. This was a stunning
trip. Each bend in the river would offer up yet another
glorious view of the lush countryside.
At our destination, we were
shown some caged pythons the size of small telegraph poles.
We declined having them draped over our shoulders for
souvenir photo shots! We did enjoy the elephant ride though.
When travelling out of town, we
always took our own bottled water supply. By the last day,
we were starting to feel really worn out from the heavy
physical work. Adding our sachets of ‘gastrolyte’ to our
water bottles gave us the necessary energy boost to get that
eighth fish pond dug!
Mission accomplished.
...Prepared
by Heather Irons RN, Yeppoon, Travel Medical Alliance
A Picture Tells a Thousand
Words
Some of the more
unusual hazards of road travel ...
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Do you have a holiday story to
tell, especially one with a medical event?
Send it to
info@travelmedicine.com.au, and we will send
you one of our mini TMA torches to put on your
key ring - a great help when finding your lock
at night. |
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