HONG KONG:
A mutant strain of antibiotic resistant pneumonia caused the death of a second child in Hong Kong, the first death by disease in the southern Chinese city at least a decade, authorities said Wednesday.
Certain features of the new strain that could make it more contagious and can be responsible for an outbreak of scanning of Hong Kong, said Yuen Kwok-yung of Professor, head of the Department of Microbiology of the University of Hong Kong.
The new strain, strain has a 60% resistance to antibiotics used in their treatment, compared with 10 to 30% in previous strains, he said.
A 5-year-old boy who died in a hospital on Tuesday was confirmed to be scarlet fever on Wednesday. A 7-year-old girl who died in May was the first patient in Hong Kong to die of the disease at least 10 years.
Hong Kong had 466 scarlet fever cases so far this year, about twice the annual total. The focus can spread to neighbouring Macau and mainland China.
About 9,000 cases have been on the continent, about double the average of recent years, although there is no information available about the deaths, the Hong Kong Standard daily reported, citing health officials. Macau has 49 cases, a jump of 29 cases in 2009 and 2010 4:0 pm, but they were not reported deaths, said the Macau Daily Times.
"We are facing an epidemic because the scarlet plague bacteria widely circulating in the region — not just in Hong Kong but neighbouring places such as the Mainland and Macau," said Thomas Tsang, controller of the Hong Kong Centre for the protection of health, was reported.
Scarlet fever is a disease by Streptococcus characterized by a bright red rash, fever and sore throat. It is more common in children under 10 years.
Infectious diseases are a particular concern in Hong Kong, where the epidemic SARS 2003 killed 299 people. Nearly 500 new deaths were reported in other countries.
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