The Centre for Health Protection urges Lunar New Year travellers to take precautions against avian flu.

The centre's consultant Dr Thomas Tsang  called on people who planned to go to areas with avian flu cases to be extra vigilant and observe good personal hygiene to prevent infection.

"Avoidance of contact with birds and poultry greatly reduces the risk," he said.

Dr Tsang also called on high-risk people to get influenza vaccinations as soon as possible, with the peak flu season expected in February and March. Last year more than 240,000 people were covered by the Government's influenza vaccination programme, 20% more than in 2004.

Year-end review

Reviewing other notable infectious diseases last year, of the 19 typhoid cases reported since November, 14 had the same DNA fingerprints and 12 of the patients live in Yuen Long, indicating the cases might have the same origin of infection. Investigations have ruled out a food premises as the common source of infection for all cases.

Given public concern over Streptococcus suis and to better understand the epidemiology of local cases, the centre made it a statutorily notifiable disease in August.

Dr Tsang said there were 975 cases of food poisoning affecting 3,495 people in the year, while the corresponding figures for 2004 were 821 cases affecting 3,132 people. Most occurred in summer. Notable outbreaks included those resulting from shellfish, ciguatera, puffer fish, and salmonella poisoning, and bacillary dysentery.

The year also marked the highest number of Legionnaires' cases since 1995. Eleven sporadic cases, including one fatal one, were reported in 2005, while there were only one to four cases per year between 1995 and 2004.