Newborns and Africa

princesslazer

Hiya people ive a quick question,
A member of my family has just returned from two weeks in africa, building schools and working in orphanages. while he was away we had twins born in the family and now he's back we were wondering could he transmit a disease to the twins?

apsalar

What part did he go to?

Assuming it was a tropical region and not the north, such things as malaria, yellow-fever, etc are not transmissible bar the presence of vectors like mosquitoes and other parasites, which do not exist in this climate.

If your relative was in good health there is no reason either they should have picked up an opportunistic (and transmissible) infection like TB or Cholera or whatever..

Are they in good health? Is so they just need to follow the usual precautions when handling newborns...wash hands, wear clean clothing, etc.

On a side note and not attacking you OP, but Africa is not crawling with disease any more than any other region...good health starts with good practice...there's little to fear if your relative has a check-up ( as anybody should when returning from the tropics in any part of the world) and looks after themselves.

Hope the babies are well.

princesslazer

Hiya, Thanks for ur quick reply, he was in kenya but did travel around to other parts, im not sure which parts as of yet! i didnt think to be honest that anything would be picked up by them, its just the older members (grandparents, aunts n uncles) that are being over cautious.
Im out with the twins almost every second day giving a hand, and they wont allow me to see my Cousin who has come home from Kenya, so i wanted to double check.
Thanks for your reply! x

Nevyn

There is only one way to be sure and that is to ring the public health nurse or your dr and get proper medical advice.