We are aware that on 4th July, 2012, The Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Kingdom of Cambodia has notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of an outbreak of an undiagnosed illness which has affected 62 children, of which
61 have died since April 2012.
The cases presented with high fever followed by respiratory and/or neurologic signs with rapid deterioration of respiratory functions. The majority came from the southern part of Cambodia and so far no apparent clustering of cases has been detected. Most patients are under the age of 7, and there is no indication that the illness is spreading from person to person.
We are closely following the development of the incident, as well as any travel advice issued by the Hong Kong government. As far, the Hong Kong government has not raised any travel alerts against Cambodia, and the area where we will visit is in the north of Cambodia. Nonetheless, please be assured that our volunteers’ health and safety will always be our top priority. We will keep volunteers updated with the latest development, and should the situation worsen or deem unsuitable for us to travel on the planned days, we would make immediate announcements to postpone or cancel the trip.
Thank you very much for your understanding, and our thoughts are with the children of Cambodia and their families.
CHP announcement: http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201207/05/P201207050476.htm
WHO announcement: http://www.who.int/csr/don/2012_07_04/en/index.html
HKSAR Security Bureau Outbound Travel Alert: http://www.sb.gov.hk/eng/ota/
CHOICE 