Disease

African Swine Fever - Vietnam

The Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture reported this week (computer translated) on three additional provinces having reported African swine fever (ASF). This brings the total 21 provinces reporting cases in the past five weeks with 64,879 pigs affected. To date, ASF has mainly appeared on small farms where sanitation and biosecurity is not good.

Syphilis - Australia

A total of 1,372 cases of infectious syphilis were notified in Victoria, compared to 1,351 cases in 2017 and 1,134 cases in 2016. The majority of notified cases continue to occur in males with 73 per cent of males reporting male sexual partners as the source of infection. Thirty per cent of the cases among MSM were HIV positive and of these, 57 per cent were reinfections.

Measles - Brooklyn, USA

New York City health officials reported an additional 33 confirmed measles in the past week, bringing the outbreak total to 214 since October 2018.

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever - South Africa

A Kimberley man is being treated for Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), commonly known as Congo fever, in the isolation unit at the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital. Elliott is the second patient to be diagnosed with Congo fever in South Africa this year. The other case is in the Free State. It is thought he contracted the disease through a tick bite.