The Hong Kong expert team who had taken part in the investigations of the Sichuan outbreak considered the clinical presentation of the cases is compatible with Streptococcus suis infection in view of the information they collected there.
This was revealed by the Director of Health, Dr Lam Ping-yan, during a meet-the-media session today (August 5) with the four members of the Hong Kong expert team.
"During their stay in Sichuan Province in the past week, the expert team had gained knowledge on the outbreak directly. Apart from working with local medical and health workers, the team had visited three hospitals and communicated with the doctors treating Streptococcus suis infection patients. Information including clinical management and treatment procedures was obtained," Dr Lam said.
"The experts met with patients and examined the patients with the local doctors. In addition, they joined the Mainland counterparts in working meetings and discussion.
"The expert team had also visited rural areas to see for themselves the living conditions and working environment of the local people. They took part in the epidemiological investigation of a new case and gained knowledge on the operation of field investigation in the Mainland. Through the process, the team's understanding of the Sichuan outbreak is enhanced," he said.
Dr Lam quoted the expert team as saying that for most patients the team had met in Sichuan, they developed symptoms after having close contacts with pigs. There was also no evidence to suggest human-to human transmission.
"As learnt from local frontline healthcare workers and from the team's own visits to the patients and observation of clinical signs, the experts learnt that early use of appropriate antibiotics can effectively treat the disease," Dr Lam said.
The expert team had seen for themselves the operation of laboratory works in Sichuan and learnt that the standard of the laboratory facilities is of good quality.
Before returning to Hong Kong, the expert team paid visits to the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing to share the team's observations and views. The team also took the opportunity to express their gratitude to the Central Government and the relevant government departments in Sichuan in providing assistance, facilitation and care in the past few days.
"We also thanked the MOH for promptly supplying daily updates of the situation in Sichuan to the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) in Hong Kong so that the public can be informed of the latest situation there," Dr Lam said.
He stressed that Hong Kong experts are members of the investigation team in the Mainland. As investigations are still continuing, the team at this stage can only provide an account of what they saw and heard in Sichuan.
Their account, however, should not be taken as the conclusion of the Mainland investigations.
"According to the information provided by the MOH, there was no new case in Ziyang in Sichuan for seven consecutive days so far. As for Neijiang, there was no new case for four consecutive days. The Mainland experts are working hard and have implemented effective preventive measures to control the outbreak. They are also putting in efforts to treat the patients and reduce the mortality rate," Dr Lam said.
"We are well aware of the concerns of the general public over the Sichuan outbreak. All the evidence collected at this stage showed that the infection were caused by Streptococcus suis.
"The Government has implemented a package of measures to protect public health. We will continue to maintain close communication daily with the relevant departments in the Mainland and will monitor the situation in Sichuan. If necessary, we will discuss with the MOH on the need for sending expert teams again to the Mainland to assist in investigation.
Members of the Hong Kong expert team are Specialist in Public Health of CHP, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan; Consultant Physician in Infectious
Diseases of the Hospital Authority, Dr Lai Sik-to; Honorary Consultant of the Department of Health, Dr Lee Shui-Shan; and Scientific Officer of the Public Health Laboratory Services Branch of CHP, Mr Cheung Tze-leung. The team's objective is to understand the outbreak from the perspectives of infectious disease epidemiology, clinical management and microbiological examination.
End/Friday, August 5, 2005