Anti-viral measures enhanced

April 02, 2013

Secretary for Food & Health Dr Ko Wing-man has announced that strengthened measures will be implemented at boundary control points and in hospitals due to the three human cases of Influenza A (H7N9) on the Mainland.
 
Dr Ko made the announcement after holding an urgent meeting today with the Centre for Health Protection, the Hospital Authority, the Centre for Food Safety, and the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department to discuss boosting surveillance and control measures against the disease.
 
He said temperature checks on people entering Hong Kong will be enhanced, along with infection control measures at hospitals.
 
Mainland authorities have uploaded the full gene sequence of this particular H7N9 virus to a website, allowing Hong Kong experts to study it.
 
“It has an element enabling it to be adapted to the human environment and that is why there are human infections. There is no evidence to show there is drug-resistance to the two commonly used anti-influenza medications, including Tamiflu,” Dr Ko said.
 
The Government was notified by the National Health & Family Planning Commission on the morning of March 31 on three cases of Influenza A (H7N9) in Shanghai and Anhui.
 
The two Shanghai patients died, and the Anhui patient is still receiving intensive medical treatment in Nanjing.
 
Dr Ko said the Government is concerned as two of the three patients have died and there is no epidemiological linkage among the three reported cases, which means the three patients might have contracted the illness through different sources.
 
He said this will have an implication on whether there is any spreading of the new H7N9 virus among poultry on the Mainland.