24 May, 2005
CIA Now Tracking Disease Risk in Asia, Africa
The US Central Intelligence Agency’s new World Factbook, which records 6 million visits each month, has just been expanded to include a “new category” listing the risks posed in 35 countries by infectious diseases.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2193.html
Asian and African countries trying to safeguard their image against an onslaught of negative publicity related to travel advisories and terrorism now have a new problem to contend with. The US Central Intelligence Agency’s new World Factbook, which records 6 million visits each month, has just been expanded to include a “new category” listing the risks posed in 35 countries by infectious diseases.
Twelve Asian countries and 23 African countries are included in the website, rating them on the basis of the risk that travellers face of exposure to diseases contractable through or by food, water, vectors or animal contact. These include rabies, dengue fever, malaria, bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever and several others. Cambodia, Burma (now known as Myanmar) and Papua New Guinea are rated “very high” while Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are rated “high”.
The potential damage faced by these countries’ travel industries is more than clear due to the huge distribution and coverage of the CIA website. The CIA refers to its World Factbook as its “most widely disseminated and most popular product, now averaging more than 6 million visits each month.” It says, “tens of thousands of government, commercial, academic, and other Web sites link to or replicate the online version of the Factbook.”
Now designed in a format that allows it to be updated twice a year, the Factbook provides wide-ranging information about the background, geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
This year’s Factbook, which was last updated on May 17, 2005, includes six new entries. “In the people category, a major infectious diseases field has been added for countries deemed to pose a higher degree of risk for travellers,” the CIA says in a press release. In the economy category, entries have been included for current account balance, investment (gross fixed), public debt, and reserves of foreign exchange and gold. The transnational issues category has a new refugees and internally displaced persons entry..
Certain to make cash registers jingle at the insurance companies selling travel policies, the information contained in the website will create new headaches for global tour operators, travel consultants, airlines and national tourism organisations of the listed 35 countries. Here is how the 12 Asian countries are categorised by level of risk to major infectious diseases:
1. Afghanistan degree of risk: high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne disease: malaria is a high risk countrywide below 2,000 meters from March through November
Animal contact disease: rabies (2004)
2. Bangladesh degree of risk: high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria are high risks in some locations
Water contact disease: leptospirosis
Animal contact disease: rabies (2004)
3. Burma degree of risk: very high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria are high risks in some locations (2004)
4. Cambodia degree of risk: very high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis are high risks in some locations (2004)
5. India degree of risk: high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis are high risks in some locations
Animal contact disease: rabies (2004)
6. Indonesia degree of risk: high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and chikungunya are high risks in some locations (2004)
7. Malaysia degree of risk: high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria are high risks in some locations (2004)
8. Pakistan degree of risk: high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and cutaneous leishmaniasis are high risks depending on location
Animal contact disease: rabies (2004)
9. Papua New Guinea degree of risk: very high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria are high risks in some locations (2004)
10. Philippines degree of risk: high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria are high risks in some locations
animal contact disease: rabies (2004)
11. Thailand degree of risk: high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea and hepatitis A
Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, Japanese encephalitis, and plague are high risks in some locations
Animal contact disease: rabies
Water contact disease: leptospirosis (2004)
12. Vietnam degree of risk: high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, Japanese encephalitis, and plague are high risks in some locations
Animal contact disease: rabies
Water contact disease: leptospirosis (2004)
Loading ...
Liked this article? Share it!