Hong Kong declares scarlet fever outbreak

[Guest guest]

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Hong Kong declares scarlet fever outbreak

By Joyce Woo | AFP – 26 minutes ago

Hong Kong has declared an outbreak of scarlet fever, an illness potentially

fatal among children, after hundreds were infected in the teeming city, the

government said Tuesday.

A seven-year-old girl in the southern Chinese city died late last month while

there have been more than 400 cases so far this year, a Centre for Health

Protection spokesman told AFP Tuesday.

Hong Kong's 419 scarlet fever infections in 2011 are already the highest annual

total in the city, and more than three times the figure for the whole of last

year. There were 142 cases in the first half of June.

" We have seen an unusually high number of infection cases this year, " the

spokesman said, describing the situation as an " outbreak " .

Local scientists said the outbreak may be linked to a deadly new strain of the

disease which could make it more contagious than in the past.

A unique gene fragment was present in the bacteria's genome " which might

contribute to increased transmissibility of this strain, " said the health

protection centre statement, released late Monday.

The new strain, discovered by researchers at the University of Hong Kong,

appears to be resistant to antibiotics traditionally used to fight the illness,

the spokesman added.

Children under 10 made up 93 percent of the reported cases and most of the

infections were mild, the statement said.

Hong Kong is particularly nervous about infectious diseases following the 2003

SARS outbreak, which killed 300 people in the city and a further 500 worldwide.

The densely city populated city of seven million has also seen fatalities from

multiple swine flu outbreaks.

Tsang, the health protection centre's controller, described the outbreak

as an " epidemic " , according to the South China Morning Post.

Mainland China and the former Portuguese enclave Macau, about an hour by ferry

from Hong Kong, have also seen surges in scarlet fever cases " suggesting a

regional phenomenon (is) at play, " the government statement said.

Tse Hung-hing, former president and current board member of the Hong Kong

Medical Association, said he expects more scarlet fever cases in the coming

months.

" We are seeing a rising trend. We don't know how many more will come. We haven't

seen the top yet, " he told AFP.

" The bacteria is becoming more resistant to antibiotics traditionally used, " Tse

added.

Scarlet fever mainly affects children between the ages of two and eight.

Symptoms include fever, sore throat, rashes and a " strawberry coloured " tongue,

and usually subside within 48 hours with appropriate antibiotic treatment.

[Guest guest]

Normally a change in the genome would be nothing out of the ordinary, but another germ turning up with antibiotic resistance?

Then again, antibiotics have been abused for decades and I have been saying that we could be returning to a time as it was before antibiotics when even a simple infection could kill. Indeed, one of the first men treated with penicillin was near death from an infection caused by a scratch from a rose thorn. He still died simply because there wasn't enough penicillin at the time to complete his treatment.

However, if terrorists or other villainous types purposefully released such agents, they will never be nullified and will remain with us forever. This is why biological warfare is far worse than nuclear or chemical warfare: it releases a living weapon into the world, one that will never be defeated and will continue to evolve.

In a message dated 6/21/2011 3:00:18 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

A unique gene fragment was present in the bacteria's genome "which might contribute to increased transmissibility of this strain," said the health protection centre statement, released late Monday.The new strain, discovered by researchers at the University of Hong Kong, appears to be resistant to antibiotics traditionally used to fight the illness, the spokesman added.