The following syndromes have been flagged:
· Diarrhoea: Fiji, Palau, Tokelau, Wallis & Futuna
· Influenza-like Illness: American Samoa, New Caledonia
· Prolonged fever: American Samoa
Other updates:
Chikungunya
· One imported case with travel history to Fiji reported by New Zealand ESR, (Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd) for the period 16/04/16–22/04/16. From 20 February to 22 April 2016 there have been 8 imported cases with travel history to Fiji reported by New Zealand ESR.
Zika virus
· American Samoa reported 510 suspected cases as of 21 April since 1 January 2016. Of these there were 14 confirmed cases, including 6 pregnant women. An average of 2-4 cases are seen daily. For further details please refer to PacNet posting by Fesili Niumata-Foifua on 27 April 2016.
Conjunctivitis
· There is an ongoing outbreak in French Polynesia. Source: French Polynesia Ministry of Health.
· Kiribati: there continues to be a high number of cases presenting to the health facilities.
Dengue
· French Polynesia: there were 28 confirmed cases, including 1 hospitalisation for week ending 17 April 2016. Dengue serotype 1 is in circulation. The weekly number of cases is decreasing. Source: French Polynesia Ministry of Health.
Yellow Fever
· Since the outbreak in Angola began in December 2015, 1 975 suspected cases of yellow fever (618 laboratory confirmed) and 258 deaths have been reported, the majority of them in the capital, Luanda, and in 2 other provinces. Amid concerns that the virus will spread to other urban areas and to neighbouring countries, a large-scale vaccination campaign was launched in February 2016 and has so far reached almost 7 million people. Cases linked to this outbreak have been detected in other countries of Africa and Asia.
· Yellow fever, which is spread by infected mosquitoes, particularly the Aedes mosquito, is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease for which there is currently no specific treatment. A small proportion of patients who contract the virus develop severe symptoms and approximately half of those die within 10 to 14 days. A single dose vaccination, however, provides protection for life and is both safe and affordable. It is effective 10 days after the date of immunization. Source: WHO
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)
· Between 19 and 23 April 2016, the National International Health Regulation Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia notified WHO of 3 additional cases of MERS-CoV. Contact tracing of household and healthcare contacts is ongoing for these cases.
· Globally, since September 2012, WHO has been notified of 1,728 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including at least 624 related deaths.