Disease

Plague – Madagascar

On 4 November 2014, WHO was notified by the Ministry of Health of Madagascar of an outbreak of plague. The first case, a male from Soamahatamana village in the district of Tsiroanomandidy, was identified on 31 August. The patient died on 3 September.

As of 16 November, a total of 119 cases of plague have been confirmed, including 40 deaths. Only 2% of reported cases are of the pneumonic form.

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia

Between 12 and 16 October 2014, the National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) notified WHO of 5 additional cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, including 2 deaths.

First European outbreak of avian influenza H5N8 confirmed in poultry

Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have recently identified outbreaks of avian influenza. The first was reported on 5 November 2014 on a turkey farm in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The virus was identified as highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8. This is the first detection of this strain of avian influenza, also called bird flu, in Europe, although outbreaks continue in wild birds and poultry in Asia (China, Japan and the Republic of Korea). How the virus reached Europe is unknown, but testing in Germany revealed that the virus is similar to the one currently circulating in Asia.

The Netherlands outbreak was on a chicken farm in Hekendorp, north-east of Rotterdam; the virus was confirmed as H5N8 on 15 November 2014. A subsequent outbreak on a duck-breeding farm in East Yorkshire, United Kingdom was confirmed as H5N8 on 18 November. Since then two more outbreaks have been detected in the Netherlands. These are also caused by H5 viruses, but exact virological details will not be known until testing has been concluded.