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The Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores) today announced it disagrees with the U.S. Department of State's recent Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution travel advisory.
Issued on June 6, 2023, this State Department travel advisory highlights an 'alleged increase in crime.'
According to Dominican Today reporting on June 10, 2023, there has been no evidence in recent months of any Dominican Republic that would motivate such action by the State Department.
'For our association, this alert comes as a surprise since the Dominican Republic continues to be one of the safest tourist destinations in the entire (Caribbean) region, considering the number of events per 100,000 foreign visitors.'
The Dominican Republic is the second largest and most diverse Caribbean country, located just two hours south of Miami, Florida.
The Dominican Republic reported over 621,000 visitors in May 2023, an 18% increase over May 2019.
CountryReports.org says ...Although influenced by North American values, the Dominican Republic maintains the Spanish tradition of familial solidarity.
Furthermore, the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic has not issued a local security alert regarding civil unrest.
And the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not featured any disease outbreaks on the eastern end of Hispaniola.
However, there is a Caribbean region-wide dengue alert.
Note: Article updated on June 12, 2023, to include visitor reference data and link.
Across the African Region, efforts continue to be intensified to reduce polio outbreaks, wrote the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
As of June 7, 2023, Africa's largest polio vaccination drive since 2020 was launched, aiming to reach more than 21 million children.
Simutantioly, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) launched a campaign using the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) with children. The nOPV2 vaccine has been deployed over 620 million times since 2021.
There were 14 polio cases in the DRC in 2023, and 146 patients were confirmed in 2022.
The GPEI also posted a summary of new polioviruses this week:
- Afghanistan: one WPV1 case and five WPV1 positive environmental samples
- Pakistan: two WPV1-positive environmental samples
- Chad: two cVDPV2 cases
- DRC: five cVDPV2 cases
- Zambia: one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample
As of June 9, 2023, the U.S. CDC maintains it's Alert - Level 2, Practice Enhanced Precautions global polio travel alert.
The CDC says before any international travel, ensure you are up to date on your polio vaccines. Furthermore, the nOPV2 polio vaccine is not available in the U.S.
The state’s Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) recently confirmed the first moose to be diagnosed with rabies in Alaska.
On June 2, 2023, a moose was detected in and around the community of Teller, Alaska, and acting aggressively toward people. The moose was unbalanced, stumbling, drooling profusely, and had bare patches of skin.
ADF&G staff in Nome consulted with wildlife veterinarian Dr. Kimberlee Beckmen and dispatched the animal that afternoon due to its aggressive behavior and signs suggestive of rabies disease.
Rabies virus in the brain was detected on June 5, 2023, by the Alaska State Virology Laboratory.
On June 6, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention further confirmed the virus was an Arctic Fox rabies variant. This is the same variant circulating in red foxes during the outbreak in the Nome/Seward Peninsula and North Slope arctic foxes this past winter, suggesting the moose contracted the virus from a fox.
Due to this new case, ADF&G plans to increase rabies surveillance by testing all brain samples from wild mammals found dead or euthanized from regions with enzootic fox rabies, including Western Alaska, when feasible.
Due to the largely solitary nature of moose, it is doubtful that any rabies outbreak will occur in the moose population, but isolated cases such as this one occur rarely.
Moose that are killed by hunters on the Seward Peninsula that show normal behavior and no signs of any abnormality or illness should still be considered safe to consume, says ADF&G.
Rabies is a zoonotic infection found in more than 150 countries and territories, say the World Health Organization (WHO). Unfortunately, almost 60,000 people worldwide die from rabies annually.
According to the WHO, rabies vaccination can prevent infections before and after exposure to the rabies virus.
On May 6, 2022, the U.S. CDC published: Using a Modified Preexposure Prophylaxis Vaccination Schedule to Prevent Human Rabies.
WestVac Biopharma and West China Medical Center, Sichuan University, today announced Coviccine® Trivalent XBB.1.5-Recombinant COVID-19 Trivalent (XBB.1.5+BA.5+Delta) Protein Vaccine (Sf9 cell) was authorized by relevant authorities in China.
As of June 8, 2023, this is the first COVID-19 vaccine in the world authorized against XBB descendent lineages of the beta coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
WestVac leveraged the rapid response of the insect cell expression platform in constructing the vector for Coviccine, which is of high purity and high quality for human use.
The subunit vaccine antigen is designed based on the structure of the targeting S-RBD and HR proteins of the COVID-19 subvariants XBB.1.5 and BA.5 and self-assembled into stable trimeric protein particles with squalene-based oil-in-water emulsion adjuvant added after purification and mixing.
This novel adjuvant significantly raises the titer of neutralizing antibodies, enabling the trimeric protein vaccine to induce a higher T-cell immune response.
Recent studies have shown that Coviccine induced a high titer of neutralizing antibodies against multiple subvariants.
Previously, the WHO Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition advised on May 18, 2023, that new formulations of COVID-19 vaccines should aim to induce antibody responses that neutralize XBB descendent lineages.
As of the end of May 2023, the XBB family of variants accounted for about 90% of infections in China.
And in the U.S., over 90% of all variants are from the XBB family.
CNBC reported today the U.S. FDA's Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee voted 21-0 to recommend full approval for Beyfortus® (Nirsevimab) for infants and young children.
The FDA considers committee recommendations when finalizing its decisions.
Beyfortu has already been approved in Canada, Europe, and the United Kingdom.
Beyfortus is the first extended half-life monoclonal antibody offering passive immunization to prevent lower respiratory tract infections caused by the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
AstraZeneca and Sanofi developed this RSV therapy.
This antibody therapy is not an RSV vaccine. The FDA recently approved two RSV vaccines for seniors.
The U.S. CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published today indicates about 66% of mpox vaccine–eligible persons remained unvaccinated.
From May 2022–April 2023, a total of 748,329 first JYNNEOS® (MVA-BN) vaccine doses (of the two recommended) were administered in the United States.
During the initial months of the outbreak, lower vaccination coverage rates among racial and ethnic minority groups were reported.
Focusing on the racial and ethnic groups with more significant mpox vaccination shortfalls, prioritizing resources, and improving access to vaccination for these groups can reduce the overall shortfall in mpox vaccination while promoting health equity.
However, after the implementation of initiatives developed to expand access to mpox vaccination, coverage among racial and ethnic minority groups increased, stated the CDC on June 9, 2023.
The outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease in Equatorial Guinea ended today with no new cases reported over the past 42 days after the last patient was discharged from treatment.
The outbreak, declared on February 13, was the first in Equatorial Guinea.
A total of 17 laboratory-confirmed cases and 12 deaths were recorded.
Five districts in four of Equatorial Guinea’s eight provinces were affected.
The western Litoral province Bata district was worst-hit, with 11 laboratory-confirmed cases reported. Among the reported cases, many were closely linked either through social gatherings and networks or geographically.
“While outbreak-prone diseases continue to pose a major health threat in Africa, we can bank on the region’s growing expertise in health emergency response to act quickly and decisively to safeguard the health and avert widespread loss of life,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, in a press release on June 8, 2023.
“The hard work by Equatorial Guinea’s health workers and support by partner organizations has been crucial in ending this outbreak. WHO continues to work with countries to improve measures to detect and respond effectively to disease outbreaks,” Dr Moeti added.
To support Equatorial Guinea’s response to the just-ended outbreak, WHO deployed experts in epidemiology, clinical management, health operations, logistics, risk communications, and infection prevention and control.
The Organization worked with the health authorities to set up a treatment center, provided medical supplies, including antivirals, and trained health workers in the critical aspects of outbreak control.
The WHO also supported the efforts by the authorities in neighboring Cameroon and Gabon to ramp up outbreak readiness and response.
Although the outbreak has ended, WHO continues to work with Equatorial Guinea to maintain measures such as surveillance and testing to enable prompt action should flare-ups of the virus occur, with the training provided during the outbreak helping to strengthen readiness capacity.
Marburg is in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola Virus Disease.
The Marburg virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces, and materials.
In Africa, the first outbreak of Marburg was recorded in South Africa in 1975, followed by two others in Kenya in the 1980s. Since then, outbreaks have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Uganda, and most recently, Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania.
The U.S. Department of State today reissued its Level 2, Exercise Increased Caution travel alert for the Kingdom of Denmark.
This alert stated civil unrest events may occur at tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, local government facilities, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, major sporting and cultural events, educational institutions, airports, and other public areas at any time.
Furthermore, the U.S. Mission in Copenhagen issued a Demonstration Alert on June 7, 2023, reminding U.S. citizens to remain vigilant if in the area of demonstrations as these events can be unpredictable and quickly turn violent.
If you decide to travel to the Kingdom of Denmark, enroll in the Smart Traveler Program to receive local Alerts in an emergency.
From a health perspective, the U.S. CDC recently suggested prospective visitors confirm their immunization status with a healthcare provider before visiting Demark.
