Disease

Wild Poliovirus - Asia

Officials with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) reported three additional wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in the past week–one in Afghanistan and two in Pakistan.

Measles - Philippines

The Department of Health in the region of CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon provinces) has been one of the hardest hit regions in the Philippines this year when it comes to the measles epidemic. According to health department data, a total of 3,384 measles cases with 83 deaths in the region from January 1 to February 23. Meanwhile the number of measles deaths in the Philippines has risen to 203.

African Swine Fever - China

China on Sunday (Feb 24) confirmed two new outbreaks of African swine fever, one in the northern province of Hebei and the other in the northern region of Inner Mongolia, as the highly contagious disease spreads through the world's largest hog herd.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said the first outbreak is on a farm in the Xushui district of Baoding city which has 5,600 hogs, some of which died because of the swine fever, though it did not give a death toll. The farm has been quarantined and the herd slaughtered, it added.

The second outbreak is in the remote Greater Khingan Mountains in Inner Mongolia, where 210 of the 222 wild boar raised on the farm died, the ministry said in a separate statement. The rest have been slaughtered, it said.

China has reported more than 100 cases of the disease in 27 provinces and regions since last August. The disease is deadly for pigs but does not harm humans.