Health | SSM discloses monthly data on infectious diseases, more cases reported

The Health Bureau (SSM) has disclosed the latest data related to infectious diseases in the region. In August there was a higher incidence of infectious diseases when compared both month-to-month with July and year-on-­year.
Toping the list are the Norovirus infections (9 cases), chickenpox (34 cases) and bacterial food poisoning (21 cases), that according to SSM, had registered a notable increase in the number of cases compared to the same period last year and the month of July 2016.
Adding to this, 8 cases of scarlet fever were also recorded as well as 150 cases of Enterovirus infections and seven cases of contamination by Salmonella bacteria.
Pulmonary tuberculosis that recorded 34 cases this August. A single case of AIDS was reported while the infection of HIV raised to three cases on year-on-year.
Currently, there is a list of 44 diseases that require a compulsory declaration from both public and private health care institutions or individuals. The data collected is used by the SSM to adopt and/or update preventive and control measures.
From now on, information on infectious diseases will become available on a monthly basis in order to comply with the regulation for the control of such illnesses and avoid any epidemic impact as much as possible. RM