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A spokesman for the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health said that a report involving a three-year-old boy was received today (August 20) through the paediatric surveillance programme set up by the CHP with private and public hospitals.
The programme started earlier this year to monitor the trend of complications due to influenza-like illnesses and enterovirus infection in children. Since its establishment in mid-March this year, the programme has recorded 51 cases with two to 27 cases received per month.
The new report was a boy living in Mong Kok who developed fever and cough on August 17. His condition deteriorated on August 19 and he was admitted to Kwong Wah Hospital (KWH) on the same day. He developed convulsions after admission and the clinical picture suggested sepsis and encephalopathy. He is now in critical condition. Laboratory tests are pending.
The boy had no recent travel history and his family members did not have similar symptoms. The kindergarten that the child attended did not report similar illnesses in other children.
CHP's investigation on this case is on-going.
Meanwhile, the seven-year-old girl admitted to Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) on August 8 with symptoms of encephalitis is still under intensive treatment. She is in critical condition.
Tests conducted on the cerebrospinal fluid, blood and respiratory specimens taken from the girl have so far yielded negative results. Further investigations are ongoing.
The coroner's investigation into the deaths of the three-year-old girl and the nine-year-old girl who passed away in KWH and PWH on August 11 and 13 respectively is also on-going.
The spokesman said a baseline average of some 50 public hospital admissions per year among children aged 12 and below were related to myocarditis, encephalitis or encephalopathy.
"CHP expects to find, as a baseline, a certain number of these cases of sporadic nature throughout the year.
"CHP will continue to monitor the occurrence of these cases to detect any abnormal increase or clustering," the spokesman said.
The spokesman said although definitive identification of a causative organism may not be possible in many cases of encephalitis and myocarditis based on literature, CHP was committed to conducting intensive tests to determine possible etiologic agents in these cases.
He reminded parents to monitor their children's personal hygiene.
"If their children develop persistent high fever, uncontrollable vomiting, fits or convulsions, they should take them to doctors immediately as the symptoms may be signs of viral infections," the spokesman said.
Ends/Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:27
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