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The Deputy Director of Health, Dr Leung Pak-yin, today (June 20) met with officials of Guangdong Health Department to discuss issues relating to the recent outbreak of Japanese B encephalitis (JE) in Guangdong Province and the notification system on infectious disease between the two places.
During the meeting in Guangzhou, Dr Leung exchanged view with the Deputy Director-General of the Health Department of Guangdong Province (HDGP), Ms Wang Zhi Qiong, the Assistant Director-General of HDGP, Mr He Zhao Fu, as well as officials of the Disease Control Division of HDGP, on the prevention of infectious diseases, including acute diarrhoeal diseases and diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, which usually occurred in summer.
Dr Leung said people in Hong Kong are concerned about the outbreak of JE in the province.
He told his Guangdong counterparts that sporadic JE cases had also been recorded in Hong Kong over the years. He said the Hong Kong government has enhanced their anti-mosquito operation and publicity campaign to prevent the spread of mosquito-transmitted diseases like dengue and JE in the territory.
In response, Guangdong health officials said JE is prevalent in the province between May and July. They noted that there was a slight increase in the number of reported cases in the province as compared with the same period last year.
They observed that there were clusters of outbreaks in some areas including Meizhou. The Guangdong provincial government has attached great importance to the development and has spared no effort in clinical treatment and infection control.
Noting that Guangdong is a large province with considerable population flow, the Guangdong health officials said they needed time to collect and collate relevant figures when they observed there were JE outbreaks in the province.
Members of the public had been reminded to take every possible measure including removal of stagnant water, killing of mosquitoes and vaccination for children under 10 years of age, to prevent the disease.
During the meeting, both parties shared the view that increased communication is essential in preventing the spread of infectious diseases in the two places.
They agreed that apart from the infectious diseases already listed in the notification mechanism, JE would also be a notifiable disease between the two parties.
Any outbreak of other significant infectious diseases should also be notified as soon as possible to ensure that the health authorities in the two places could obtain the latest situation with a view to taking appropriate measures to safeguard public health.
End/Friday, June 20, 2003
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