The Centre for Health Protection today said that teachers and students from two more schools who participated in exchange tours to Shaoguan, Guangdong Province in early March have also developed gastroenteritis symptoms.

During the investigation into the cluster announced yesterday, the centre found that teachers and students of two other exchange tours to the same locations in Shaoguan on March 3 to 4 and March 6 to 7 also developed gastroenteritis symptoms.

A total of 52 teachers and students developed acute gastroenteritis symptoms so far this month. Sixteen of them sought medical attention and none required hospitalisation.

Epidemiological investigations revealed that the teachers and students of the three exchange tours had dined at the same restaurants.

The possibility that some of the cases were infected by consuming contaminated food could not be ruled out and the Guangdong authority has been notified accordingly.

As one of the cases had vomited during the visit and more teachers and students subsequently fell ill after returning to Hong Kong, some of the cases may have been infected by person-to-person transmission or a contaminated environment.

The centre will continue to follow up on the incidents and conduct epidemiological investigations, including collecting stool specimens of the patients for laboratory testing and advising the schools concerned on infection control measures. It has also alerted the Education Bureau to the situation.

Visit the centre’s website for information on viral gastroenteritis.