Vector-borne diseases:
In this update, note that malaria is on the rise in South Korea. An interesting media piece on a potentially important malaria discovery here: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-66394117
Also: France confirmed two locally acquired dengue fever cases in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in Southern France. More cases could be detected in the coming weeks in the area or any other department due to the presence of Aedes albopictus mosquitoes in more than two thirds of French departments.
The large dengue outbreak in Bangladesh meanwhile continues to cause major challenges.
A recent BlueDot report on chikungunya (another mosquito-borne viral disease) concluded the following:
• There are large ongoing chikungunya outbreaks in many countries in South America in which countries without previously documented cases are reporting outbreaks. An unexpected increased proportion of neurological complications have been associated with infection.
• Cases of chikungunya are also showing increasing trends in Thailand and Malaysia. The virus is likely circulating in other Southeast Asian and African countries where the disease is endemic, but reporting is limited due to poor surveillance infrastructure.
• While there is some evidence of life-long immunity post-infection, roughly 40% of those infected experience chronic symptoms which greatly impact long-term quality of life.
COVID-19:
The World Health Organization classified the EG.5 coronavirus strain circulating in the United States and China as a "variant of interest" but said it did not seem to pose more of a threat to public health than other variants. COVID-19 hospitalisations continue rising in the US and Europe, as do wastewater levels, and EG.5 is estimated to be dominant amongst hew US cases.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of long COVID across over 120,000 patients is here: Di Gennaro et al https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11739-023-03315-7
And a review of two years’ experience of COVID-19 in Lombardy Italy is here, the dramatic downward trend in crude mortality (from 18.7% to 0.3%) following vaccination is really interesting - Mannucci et al: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11739-023-03315-7
Other:
There is an unprecedented situation with highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) outbreaks in 15 or more Latin American and Caribbean countries, affecting domestic birds, poultry, wild birds, and mammals (predominantly fur seals in South America). There have been a handful of human infections from contact with animals/birds. https://www.paho.org/en/documents/epidemiological-update-outbreaks-avian-influenza-caused-influenza-ah5n1-region-americas-0
As previously reported there continue to be cases of West Nile fever in US and Europe, and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) in Eastern Europe.
A severe case of mpox (Monkeypox) in Thailand, infecting a 34 year old man with HIV and syphilis, culminated in the country’s first death, the 79th fatality this year from mpox this year amongst the approximately 1000 cases globally.
And a very interesting turnaround on the possibility of eradication of polio is discussed here in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02577-7
David Powell
IATA Medical Advisor