Press Releases
Virus findings heartening, says Health Secretary
The Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong today (March 19) congratulated researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) after they reported isolating the virus believed to cause the recent cases of atypical pneumonia.
Addressing a press conference in Murray Building he said it was "very heartening" that CUHK microbiologists working with Prince of Wales Hospital staff had identified it as a member of the paramyxoviradae family of viruses that includes measles and mumps.
Reports from Germany and Taiwan appeared to collaborate this, he said, World Health Organisation (WHO) would need to co-ordinate efforts to verify and confirm the findings and more research would be necessary to understand the unusual behaviour of the virus.
Dr Yeoh said it appeared to be a variant form of a virus that commonly causes respiratory infection in children, however most of the cases reported affected adults.
He said three people were confirmed to have died from the virus in Hong Kong, while it may have been associated in the deaths of another two patients here who were already suffering from serious illnesses.
Dr Yeoh said Hong Kong had a total of 145 atypical pneumonia patients today, compared with 111 the previous day (March 18).
Another five people were being kept under observation, bringing the total number of confirmed and suspected cases to 150, compared with 123 the previous day.
The confirmed fatal cases were a medical practitioner who came from Guangdong, an American-Chinese businessman who had also passed through Southern China and Vietnam, and a man who was the original "index case" at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital.
The other two were already very sick with serious liver and heart illnesses and the pneumonia may have added to their problems.
Dr Yeoh said the breakdown of confirmed and suspected cases was:
* A total of 75 health care workers had been admitted, 70 with pneumonia symptoms, compared with 67 in total and 55 confirmed the previous day;
* The number of confirmed medical students with pneumonia symptoms remained at 17;
* Relatives and other people with close contacts to patients had risen to 58, up 19 from the 39 "close contacts" on Tuesday.
Dr Yeoh was joined by the Deputy Director of Health, Dr Leung Pak-yin, and the Hospital Authority's Director (Professional Services and Public Affairs), Dr Ko Wing-man.
In response to one questioner, Dr Ko said the Hospital Authority had 480,000 surgical masks in stock, which was more than ample for the foreseeable needs, but he thanked community members who had offered to help buy more.
End/Wednesday, March 19, 2003
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