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The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) is closely monitoring developments concerning plague cases in Tibet.
A CHP spokesman said today (June 27) that the CHP had been informed by the Ministry of Health about a report of human plague at Zhongba County, Tibet, in which five patients became ill between June 13 and 18. Two of them died.
Staff of the DH's Port Health Office are contacting the travel industry to inform them about the latest situation and give relevant health advice.
Plague is primarily an infection of rodents caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis. The disease can be transmitted to human from rodents through a vector, the rodent flea.
People can also contract plague when cuts or other breaks in their skin come into contact with the body fluid or tissue of infected animals.
Patients usually have fever, headache and painful swelling of the regional lymph nodes. This is the common form of plague manifestation and is termed bubonic plague.
The infection can develop to septicaemic plague when the bloodstream is invaded. A spread of the infection to the lung will result in pneumonia or pneumonic plague.
Patients with pneumonic plague have fever, chills, cough with blood-stained sputum, shortness of breath and may die if not treated immediately. Patients are highly infectious in this most serious form. It can spread from person to person by airborne droplets.
Treatment must be started early when plague is suspected. People infected with plague should be isolated and treated with suitable antibiotics. If antibiotics are used properly and in time, patients can recover fully.
Travellers should avoid visiting plague-infected areas. If travel to such areas is necessary, the following precautions should be observed:
- Avoid rat-infested places, which usually are dirty and full of food debris;
- Avoid being bitten by flea by wearing long sleeved shirts and long trousers;
- Apply insect repellent to exposed areas of the body;
- Never touch dead rodents;
- Preventive use of antibiotic should be considered only for those with exceptionally high risk of exposure to plague, such as laboratory workers.
People who have developed symptoms such as fever, painful lumps, chills, malaise within six days after travelling to plague infected areas should seek medical consultation immediately. They should discuss their recent travel history with their doctors.
Travellers may also contact their family doctors or visit the DH's Travel Health Service website at http://www.info.gov.hk/trhealth/e_HKTHS.htm for more information.
Ends/Monday, June 27, 2005
Issued at HKT 17:42
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