The following syndromes have been flagged:
· Diarrhoea: Tonga · Influenza-like illness: American Samoa, Niue, Tonga · Prolonged Fever: Tonga Other updates:
Chikungunya
· Chikungunya outbreak is on-going in Cook Islands and Marshall Islands. Weekly number of cases in Kiribati has reduced significantly.
· Cook Islands report a total of 616 cases including 44 new cases in the week to 31 May 2015.
· As of 4 June 2015, Marshall Islands reports 629 cases since February 2015.
Dengue
· American Samoa has released reports of dengue related deaths currently under investigation. For more information please follow link
· There were 28 confirmed cases in the week end 24 May 2015 in French Polynesia. There has been an increase in the number of confirmed cases over the past three weeks. Dengue serotype-1 has been identified by the Institut Louis Malarde (ILM), French Polynesia.
· There is a reduction in the number of cases reported from the outbreak in the Macuata Province, Northern Health Division, Fiji. Dengue serotype-2 has been identified by the ILM, French Polynesia.
· Tonga dengue serotype-3 has been identified by Labplus, Auckland, New Zealand. The weekly number of cases is decreasing.
Zika Virus
· An outbreak is ongoing in Solomon Islands. As of week end 24 May 2015 there have a total of 310 cases since February 2015. The weekly number of cases is decreasing.
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)
· As of 4 June 2015, a total of 35 confirmed cases have been reported since the beginning of the outbreak on 20 May 2015. Of the 35 cases; 34 are in the Republic of Korea and 1 in China. Two deaths have been reported from Korea, both are linked to the first (index) case. The index case had recently returned from the Middle East. All cases are considered part of the same chain of transmission.
· China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission announced the first laboratory-confirmed case of MERS-CoV in China on 29 May 2015. The confirmed case is a Republic of Korea national, who travelled to Guangdong via Hong Kong on 26 May. The patient is a close contact of the index case in the Republic of Korea.
· WHO’s assessment of the risk posed by this virus has not changed in the light of the recent additional cases of MERS in the Republic of Korea. Based on the evidence gathered to date, the virus does not seem to pass easily from person to person unless there is close contact. There is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.
· For more information refer to MERS link
Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)
· In the week ending 31 May, a total of 25 confirmed cases were reported from Guinea and Sierra Leone. Several cases in both Guinea and Sierra Leone arose from unknown sources of infection in areas that have not reported confirmed cases for several weeks, indicating that chains of transmission continue to go undetected.
· As of 31 May 2015, there have been a total of 27 145 cases of EVD in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone with 11 147 reported deaths.