Situation of Some Important Communicable Diseases in Temporary Shelters along Thai – Myanmar Border Areas, 2005 - 2009.

The objectives of this study were to determine epidemiological characteristics of some important communicable diseases in temporary shelters along Thai – Myanmar border areas during 2005 – 2009. Disease surveillance data from the Bureau of Epidemiology, Ministry of Public Health, during 2005 – 2009 were reviewed and analyzed. Frequency, median and rate were used to present the results of analysis. There were no reported cases of avian influenza during the study period while influenza A H1N1 and ILI were reported in 2009 and AFP were reported in 2007 and 2009. Cholera outbreaks were found in almost all study years except in 2006, with the highest reported cases in 2007 and two deaths in 2005. During 2005 – 2009, the diseases showing higher figures than baseline surveillance data were dengue infection, watery diarrhea, acute bloody diarrhea, and malaria. Two deaths of dengue infection were reported in 2005 and four deaths in 2006. Two deaths of watery diarrhea were reported in 2005 and 2006. Two deaths of acute bloody diarrhea were reported in 2007. The highest figure of deaths from malaria (16 deaths) was reported in 2005. This situation report indicated that greater figures of surveillance diseases than the threshold level or outbreaks were commonly found in these temporary shelters. It is essential to support or perform outbreak investigation when abnormal situation was detected. Evaluation of communicable disease surveillance system should be conducted to determine quality of the system in Thai-Myanmar temporary shelters.