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The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health urged people to take preventive measures against mosquito-transmitted diseases following the confirmation of an imported case of Japanese encephalitis (JE) by laboratory test today (July 13).
Serology tests on blood samples of a 22-year-old woman living in Tai Kok Tsui yielded a positive result for JE, a viral disease transmitted by the bite of infective mosquitoes. This is the first JE case reported in Hong Kong this year.
A spokesman for CHP said that the patient developed fever and headache on June 24 and was admitted to Caritas Medical Centre on June 26. She has completely recovered and was discharged on July 10.
"Investigation revealed that she had a travel history to Guangdong province on the Mainland from June 9 to 22. As she had travelled outside Hong Kong during the whole incubation period, the case was classified as an imported one," the spokesman said.
The woman's husband and two children who travelled with her did not show any symptoms of JE and were put under medical surveillance.
From 2001 to 2006, there were a total of 11 sporadic cases reported in Hong Kong. There was one imported case in 2001, two imported cases in 2002, one local case in 2003 and five local cases in 2004. One local and one imported case were reported in 2005 and none in 2006.
The spokesman said JE was transmitted by Culex tritaeniorhychus (Culicine mosquitoes) which bred mainly in water-logged fields, marshes, ditches and small stable collections of water around cultivated fields. The mosquito becomes infected by feeding on pigs and wild birds infected with the JE virus.
To prevent JE, people living in rural areas are reminded to take the following personal protection, particularly after dark:
* Wear long sleeved clothes and trousers;
* Use insect repellent over exposed parts of the body when outdoors; and
* Use mosquito screens or nets when the room is not air-conditioned.
Travellers should take proper precautionary measures when travelling to endemic areas which include:
* Avoid outdoor exposure to mosquito bites at dusk and dawn, especially in rural areas;
* Apply effective insect repellents with DEET to exposed parts of their bodies; and
* Consider vaccination which should be completed at least 10 days before departure going to endemic areas in Asia or Western Pacific and staying over one month particularly in rural areas bears higher risk.
Details of the preventive measures against JE are available on the CHP's website (http://www.chp.gov.hk) and DH's Hong Kong Travel Health Service website (http://www.travelhealth.gov.hk).
Ends/Friday, July 13, 2007
Issued at HKT 19:07
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