Search This Blog

Friday, June 24, 2011

Hong Kong : Update on laboratory tests of fatal scarlet fever cases

Via Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection :

" The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health has conducted further laboratory testing on specimens from the two recent scarlet fever deaths. Results showed that two different strains of Streptococcus pyogenes were involved.

In the case of the 7-year-old girl who passed away on May 29 at Queen Mary Hospital, typing tests on the bacterium (Streptococcus pyogenes) isolated from this patient identified the strain emm 12. Similar typing tests on the bacterial isolate from the 5-year-old boy who passed away on June 21 in Princess Margaret Hospital, however, identified the strain emm 1.

Further tests are being carried out by the Public Health Laboratory Centre.

In the 24 hours ending at noon today (June 23), the CHP had recorded 32 cases of scarlet fever and four scarlet fever outbreaks."

No comments:

Post a Comment