We have yet another deadly disease threatening Bali travellers:
New Health Warning for Bali Travellers
6 posts | Started 1 year ago by Barrie | Latest reply from borderline |
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Posted 1 year ago #
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i hope the WA authorities have back tracked the hotels at which those affected stayed.
legionnaires contamination is water borne, and usually found in the water towers of central air conditioning. it does not transmit nyamuk/person to person.
if you are staying without a/c or without central a/c your risk is negligible.
hopefully the RI authorities have checked out the a/c cooling towers at the big shopping malls and Ngurah Rai airport.
b4 we get too precious, look at the occurrence in oz. it's much higher. for example, in NSW in 2008 there were 18 cases, and in 2009 there were 28. source: nsw department of health.
b4 we point the finger at bali, have the aircon towers at Perth airport been checked/cleared?
the article doesn't mention how long those affected stayed in Bali. with a +10 incubation it's possible they were infected b4 they left.
there's also the remote possibility the humidifying equipment on the aircraft aircon was contaminated.
i'm not trying to absolve bali as the source or duck shove the problem. i'm asking for a rational approach for resolution/solution.
Posted 1 year ago # -
ps. let's make a meaningful comparison.
the population of Bali is 3.9 juta. include tourists - 4+ million. WA has 2.2. over 3 months 10 people in bali caught a disease. the clap rate at freo would dwarf it!
Posted 1 year ago # -
The authorities know where the sick returnees stayed, but they are not telling:
“9 of the 10 confirmed [Australian] cases stayed at the same hotel” in central Kuta, according to a January 15 report in ProMED, the electronic reporting system for outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases hosted by the International Society for Infectious Diseases (January 15 ProMED Digest V2011 #24 at: http://tinyurl.com/ProMED-Jan15-2011 ).
Risk communication comment:
In the interests of transparency, warning people early despite uncertainty, and building trust with the public (see the WHO Outbreak Communication Guidelines at http://www.who.int/infectious-disease-news/IDdocs/whocds200528/whocds200528en.pdf ), it is way past time to name the hotel.
The hotel may of course be innocent of harboring Legionella. Being named will cause it economic damage.
But there is nevertheless an epidemiologically plausible reason to suspect that this unnamed hotel has been the source of Legionnaires’ disease over at least a five-month period. As the ProMED reports notes, the hotel was suspected as early as August 2010, and as of December 2010 it is the suspected source of much more recent cases -- so there is no reason to think the hotel's Legionella contamination is "under control".
If I were advising a friend about a trip to Bali (where I have been numerous times), I would warn them as follows:
“By all means go to Bali. But do not stay at a hotel in central Kuta. One of them seems to be the source of Legionnaires’ disease in several Australian travelers over the course of the last five months, but no one will name the suspect hotel. So just avoid all of central Kuta hotels. And by the way, if you get bitten by a dog or other animal in Bali, make sure you consult a doctor about rabies prophylaxis.”
(I tried to post this response under Barry's comment, but couldn't tell if the response went through. I apologize if this is a duplicate post.)
Posted 1 year ago # -
most of the 10 went to the same shopping centre in Kuta
Posted 1 year ago # -
hotel is named as The Ramayana Resort and Spa - and most had visited the same local shopping centre.
Posted 1 year ago #
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