Via the Bangkok Post: Old diseases never die, they just relapse. Excerpt:
As Thailand faces the new threat from an influenza pandemic, old foes such as bird flu, cholera and dengue fever are threatening to make a comeback, experts warned.
As of Dec 23, there were 29,886 confirmed case of type-A H1N1 flu and 191 deaths.
“No bird flu death case [for a long time] doesn’t mean the virus has disappeared,” said Pasakorn Akarasevi, director of the Bureau of Epidemiology.
In Thailand, 17 of 25 confirmed bird flu victims died between 2004 and 2006. Although there has been no confirmed human case since 2006, bird flu is still circulating among poultry populations.
Ten provinces, including Sukhothai in the lower North, which was once declared a red zone of the virus outbreak, also reported bird flu infections early this month.
“Continuing reports of avian flu cases in Egypt as well as the latest human death in Cambodia and Vietnam’s Dien Bien Phu town are a warning sign that the virus is still around and could strike any time without a well-planned surveillance system and cooperation between health and livestock officials as well as local communities,” he said.
It was crucial to follow the national strategic and surveillance plan on bird flu in both humans and poultry to ensure that the virus would not claim more lives, he added.
Apart from bird flu, Mr Pasakorn believes dengue fever will flare in urban areas. Vector-borne disease outbreaks, particularly among adults, will become a big issue next year in densely populated cities and municipal areas.
Dengue has spread nationwide, mostly in central provinces, with 50,132 cases and 42 deaths as of Dec 12.
There may also be a rise in chikungunya fever, caused by garden-striped mosquitoes, said Kamnuan Ungchusak of the Disease Control Department. Asia is regarded the epicentre of the re-emergence of the disease.
