Avian influenza infection in Hong Kong

For the first time ever, a bird flu infection has been diagnosed in Hong Kong: For nearly seven years, another person in Hong Kong has been proven to be infected with the bird flu virus. Local health officials said Thursday that the 59-year-old woman was suffering from a China trip and her health was worrying.

After extensive outbreaks in several countries in the Southeast and East Asia region in 1997 and then between December 2003 and summer 2004, the Hong Kong region has not been infected with bird flu virus in Hong Kong in recent years. However, in the face of the new case, the health authorities of the autonomous South China Special Administrative Region have now raised the alert level. Accordingly, there is one „increased health risk“ for an infection with the deadly bird flu virus.

Bird flu virus detected in 59-year-old woman
The 59-year-old woman was diagnosed with a virus within China shortly after her return, according to the health authorities. First, the treating physicians had assumed pneumonia, but during the course of the investigation they found the type H5 virus in the patient. Her health is so critical that she was admitted to the isolation ward of the Princess Margaret Hospital on Sunday. Where the woman could have been infected, is still unclear. Also, there are no signs of transmission of the virus from person to person. The Hong Kong woman traveled with her husband and daughter to Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou, among other places, where she and her family visited numerous fresh meat markets, according to the authorities. However, she was also on markets in Hong Kong on the way, so that infection in the metropolis can not be excluded.

The health authorities in Taiwan also warn
With many Taiwanese visiting or returning from mainland China via Hong Kong, Taiwan's health authorities also raised the alarm and warned against the bird flu virus. The health authorities advocated the prevention and special personal hygiene and recommended travelers to stay away from markets and livestock. At the first sign of illness, those affected should report immediately to the authorities.

302 official bird flu deaths
So far, of the many different variants of avian influenza virus, only H5N1, H7N3, H7N7 and H9N2 have been detected in humans. While the last three trigger only mild symptoms, the variant H5N1 is highly pathogenic. According to information from the World Health Organization WHO, it has so far affected 507 people worldwide and 302 died. The most recent bird flu epidemic occurred in 2006, when 55 infected individuals from Indonesia, 18 from China and 13 from China were reported simultaneously. However, it is unclear how high the number of unreported cases of bird flu infections was. In the poorer regions, it is highly likely that not all cases will be recorded. In rural areas where humans and animals live together, the risk of infection is particularly high, according to health authorities. In China, only one bird flu case has so far been reported this year, another fatal event has occurred in Egypt and in October two people in Indonesia became infected with H5N1. (fp, 19.11.2010)

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