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A spokesman for the Department of Health (DH) today (June 10) said the department was investigating three newly confirmed cases of human swine influenza (Influenza A H1N1). This brings to 48 the total number of human swine influenza cases in Hong Kong.
The first case involved a 55-year-old man who did not travel in the past month.
He attended a cocktail reception in Admiralty on June 5. Among the guest was a 20-year-old man who was confirmed to have infected with human swine influenza on June 7.
The 55-year-old man developed fever, headache and cough in the late evening of June 8. He contacted DH the next day and was taken to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital by ambulance for isolation.
His home contacts are asymptomatic.
The second case is a 21-year-old woman living in the United Kingdom. She arrived in Hong Kong by taking a flight of British Airways (flight no. BA025) in the afternoon of June 7.
The woman lives with her mother and aunt in Kailey Court, King's Road, North Point.
She had dinner with her mother, aunt and cousin in Causeway Bay in the evening of June 8. They took a taxi to North Point where the patient, her mother and her aunt got off in King¡¦s Road and then the cousin got off in Fort Street.
The woman developed fever, runny nose, chills and headache in the morning of June 9. She, accompanied by her mother and aunt, consulted a nearby private doctor. She was taken to Ruttonjee Hospital by ambulance and was admitted for isolation.
Her family contacts are asymptomatic.
The third case involved a 54-year-old woman who stayed in the United States since mid January. She had onset of sorethroat on June 4 while in the United States. She travelled from Los Angeles to Seoul on June 8 and returned to Hong Kong by taking a flight of Korean Air (flight no KE607) on June 9. She sat in row 31. She developed cough and put on face mask on the flight.
On arrival, she declared cough and sore throat and was given health advice by Port Health Office. The patient stayed the night in her friend's home at Tai Koo Shing. In the morning of June 10, she went to Ruttonjee Hospital by taxi and was admitted for isolation.
Laboratory analysis on respiratory samples taken from the three patients yielded positive results for human swine influenza today.
DH is now tracing passengers sitting in rows 28-34 of KE607 arrived in Hong Kong on June 9 and crew members of the flight concerned who had served the affected sections of the cabins concerned as well as other close contacts of the three patients.
Passengers who had travelled on the concerned flight are urged to call the DH hotline 2125 1111.
The spokesman urged the taxi driver who took three women and a man from Pennington Street, Causeway Bay to King's Road, North Point where three women got off in Kings Road and a man got off in Fort Street at about 11pm on June 8 to contact DH hotline.
Investigations into the three cases are ongoing.
Meanwhile, the spokesman called on members of the public to advise their children, relatives or friends coming to Hong Kong from abroad to defer their trips if they developed symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat.
"To protect their own health and that of other travellers, they should seek medical attention where they are.
"If they feel unwell on the plane, they should wear a face mask and inform cabin crew immediately," the spokesman said.
Ends/Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Issued at HKT 23:40
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