The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) is
closely monitoring developments concerning plague cases in Tibet.
A CHP spokesman said today (June 27) that the CHP had been informed by the
Ministry of Health about a report of human plague at Zhongba County, Tibet in
which five patients had onset of illness between June 13 and 18. Two of them
died.
Staff of the DH’s Port Health Office is contacting the travel industry to inform
them about the latest situation and give them relevant health advice.
Plague is primarily an infection of rodents caused by a bacterium called Yersinia
pestis. The disease can be transmitted to human from rodents through a vector,
the rodent flea.
People can also contract plague when cuts or other breaks in their skin come
into contact with the body fluid or tissue of infected animals.
Patients usually have fever, headache and painful swelling of the regional
lymph nodes. This is the common form of plague manifestation and is termed bubonic
plague.
The infection can develop to septicaemic plague when the blood stream is invaded.
A spread of the infection to the lung will result in pneumonia or pneumonic
plague.
Patients with pneumonic plague have fever, chills, cough with blood-stained
sputum, shortness of breath and may die if not treated immediately. Patients
are highly infectious in this most serious form. It can spread from person to
person by airborne droplets.
Treatment must be started early when plague is suspected. People infected with
plague should be isolated and treated with suitable antibiotics. If antibiotics
are used properly and in time, patients can recover fully.
Travellers should avoid visiting plague-infected areas. If travel to such areas
is necessary, the following precautions should be observed:
* Avoid rat-infested places, which usually are dirty and full of food debris;
* Avoid being bitten by flea by wearing long sleeved shirts and long trousers;
* Apply insect repellent to exposed areas of the body;
* Never touch dead rodents;
* Preventive use of antibiotic should be considered only for those with exceptionally
high risk of exposure to plague, such as laboratory workers.
People who have developed symptoms such as fever, painful lumps, chills, malaise
within six days after travelling to plague infected areas should seek medical
consultation immediately. They should discuss their recent travel history with
their doctors.
Travellers may also contact their family doctors or visit the DH’s Travel Health
Service website at http://www.info.gov.hk/trhealth/e_HKTHS.htm for more information.
End/Monday, June 27, 2005