www.bushdrums.com - Health Information, Diseases and Vaccine Information for East Africa

Health Matters

	Health Information, Diseases and Vaccine Information
	Before setting off, you may want to check the illnesses described below that occur in Kenya and its surrounding Tropical countries. The information displayed is from the CDC and should be pretty accurate. As a strict rule of thumb; if you think that there is something wrong, go see a doctor. In general, 1st timers to Tropical African countries worry about medical attention & care. We personally can inform you that these countries have qualified doctors that are highly skilled and know tropical diseases better than your average 1st world doctors. Let this not be the reason to stop you travelling on your own or with your friends and family – what ever age. If you're not sure where to find good medical attention, check with the nearest international hotel as they usually have their own “house doctor” that can help you (note: the facilities and / or doctors they refer you to will most likely ask for payment). Our personal opinion on Bushdrums.com – prevention is better than cure! Therefore take the necessary steps to prevent drinking dirty water, getting bitten by mosquitoes, getting a sun stroke or infected by sexually transmitted diseases amongst others. Remember, when you are back home and your stay in Africa has become a unique memory; should you feel uncomfortable in any way, please inform your doctor that you were away on vacation / work in a tropical country – even after 6 months. Below the list of diseases we have preselected all news published on bushdrums for you to see if any outbreak recently occured.
	AIDS
	AIDS is a serious disease, first recognized as a distinct syndrome in 1981. This syndrome represents the late clinical stage of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIVGG), resulting in progressive damage to the immune system and in life-threatening infectious and noninfectious complications.	[more...]
	Cholera
	Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by toxigenic Vibrio cholerae O-group 1 or O-group 139. The infection is often mild and self limited or subclinical. Patients with severe cases respond dramatically to simple fluid- and electrolyte-replacement therapy. Infection is acquired primarily by ingesting contaminated water or food; person-to-person transmission is rare.	[more...]
	Dengue Fever
	Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are viral diseases transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, usually Ae. aegypti . The four dengue viruses (DEN-1 through DEN-4) are immunologically related, but do not provide cross-protective immunity against each other.	[more...]
	Hepatitis, Viral, Type A
	Hepatitis A is a viral infection of the liver caused by hepatitis A virus (HAV). HAV infection may be asymptomatic or its clinical manifestations may range in severity from a mild illness lasting 1-2 weeks to a severely disabling disease lasting several months. Clinical manifestations of hepatitis A often include fever, malaise, anorexia, nausea, and abdominal discomfort, followed within a few days by jaundice.	[more...]
	Hepatitis, Viral, Type B
	Hepatitis B is caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). The clinical manifestations of HBV infection range in severity from no symptoms to fulminant hepatitis. Signs and symptoms of hepatitis B may include fever, malaise, anorexia, nausea, and abdominal discomfort, followed within a few days by jaundice.	[more...]
	Hepatitis, Viral, Type C
	Hepatitis C is caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Most persons who acquire acute HCV infection either have no symptoms or have a mild clinical illness. However, chronic HCV infection develops in 75%-85% of those acutely infected, with chronic liver disease developing in 60%-70% of chronically infected persons. Chronic hepatitis C is the leading cause for liver transplantation in the United States.	[more...]
	Hepatitis, Viral, Type E
	Hepatitis E, which is caused by the hepatitis E virus (HEV), cannot be distinguished reliably from other forms of acute viral hepatitis except by specific serologic testing.	[more...]
	Malaria
	Malaria in humans is caused by one of four protozoan species of the genus Plasmodium: P. falciparum , P. vivax , P. ovale , or P. malariae . All species are transmitted by the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. Occasionally, transmission occurs by blood transfusion, organ transplantation, needle-sharing, or congenitally from mother to fetus. Although malaria can be a fatal disease, illness and death from malaria are largely preventable.	[more...]
	Chikungunya Fever
	Chikungunya fever is a viral disease transmitted to humans by the bite of infected mosquitoes. Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a member of the genus Alphavirus, in the family Togaviridae. CHIKV was first isolated from the blood of a febrile patient in Tanzania in 1953, and has since been identified repeatedly in west, central and southern Africa and many areas of Asia, and has been cited as the cause of numerous human epidemics in those areas since that time. The virus circulates throughout much of Africa, with transmission thought to occur mainly between mosquitoes and monkeys.	[more...]
	African Sleeping Sickness
	Trypanosomiasis is a systemic disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei . East African trypanosomiasis is caused by T. b. rhodesiense and West African trypanosomiasis by T. b. gambiense . Both forms are transmitted by the bite of the tsetse fly, a gray-brown insect about the size of a honeybee.	[more...]
	Tuberculosis
	Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a rod-shaped bacterium that can cause disseminated disease but is most frequently associated with pulmonary infections. The bacilli are transmitted by the airborne route and, depending on host factors, may lead to latent tuberculosis infection (sometimes abbreviated LTBI) or tuberculosis disease (TB). Both conditions can usually be treated successfully with medications.	[more...]
	Yellow Fever
	Yellow fever is a viral disease that is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes. Illness ranges in severity from an influenza-like syndrome to severe hepatitis and hemorrhagic fever. The yellow fever virus is maintained in nature by mosquito-borne transmission between nonhuman primates. Transmission by mosquitoes from one human to another occurs during epidemics of "urban yellow fever."	[more...]
	Rift Valley Fever
	Rift Valley fever is a viral disease generally found in sub-Saharan Africa where sheep and cattle are raised, but the virus has also occurred in Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula and in Madagascar. Rift Valley fever virus primarily affects livestock and can cause disease in a large number of domestic animals. Although the virus is usually transmitted by infected mosquitoes and possibly other biting insects that have virus contaminated mouthparts, Rift Valley Fever virus is occasionally transmitted to humans through contact with the blood, body fluids, or tissues of the infected animals.	[more...]

Health News
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Time	Title	Region	Comments	Hits
09.12.2007, 09:56	Ebola Outbreak in the District of Bundibugyo, Uganda - News	Africa - Health Matters	-	1798
23.09.2007, 00:46	Kenya Says Rift Valley Fever Returns, Two Dead - News	Africa - Health Matters	-	1976
06.02.2007, 09:37	Rift Valley Fever spreads to Tanzania - News	Africa - Health Matters	-	2974
31.01.2007, 10:22	Nairobi put on alert over Rift Valley fever - Health	Kenya - Nairobi City	-	2436
27.01.2007, 10:39	Cholera outbreak in Mandera - Health	Kenya - Wajir/Mandera	-	2880
25.01.2007, 09:34	Fever outbreak claims more lives in Kenya - News	Africa - Health Matters	-	2970
24.01.2007, 10:24	Rift Valley fever spreads to Kitui as meat ban bites - News	Africa - Health Matters	-	3110
09.01.2007, 22:15	Kenya laments slow response to deadly fever - News	Africa - Health Matters	-	2656
06.01.2007, 00:54	Rift Valley Fever Kills Eight More - News	Africa - Health Matters	-	2858
31.12.2006, 11:23	Rift Valler Fever Fact Sheet - Health	Africa - Health Matters	-	2284
31.12.2006, 10:53	Vets now step in to fight Rift Valley Fever - News	Africa - Health Matters	-	2910
30.12.2006, 01:45	Fever Will Precipitate a Regional Catastrophe - News	Africa - Health Matters	-	2706
29.12.2006, 01:04	NY Times: Malnutrition is Cheating Its Survivors, and Africa's Future - News	Africa - Health Matters	-	2734
28.12.2006, 23:11	Deaths now 30 as fever hits Coast - Health	Kenya - Lamu/Garissa	-	2040
27.12.2006, 03:18	Eight More Perish as Killer Disease Spreads - Health	Kenya - Lamu/Garissa	-	2120
22.12.2006, 23:14	Malaria vaccine difficult to develop - News	Africa - Health Matters	-	2694
22.12.2006, 00:17	More on disease - hundreds of cattle dead - Health	Kenya - Lamu/Garissa	-	1956
21.12.2006, 23:55	Killer Disease Identified as Rift Valley Fever - Health	Kenya - Lamu/Garissa	-	2042
21.12.2006, 15:04	Kenya: 11 Killed by Unidentified Disease - Health	Kenya - Lamu/Garissa	-	2094
20.12.2006, 18:19	Suspected cholera kills 4 in flood-hit Kenya - Health	Kenya - Samburu/Isiolo/Marsabit	-	1148
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