Hong Kong’s killer flu

Hong Kong’s killer flu
Victim goes from healthy to dead in 15 days as outbreak brings back bad memories of another killer flu - Sars
By Tracy Quek, China Correspondent

TAKING PRECAUTIONS: A primary school pupil in Hong Kong getting a temperature check yesterday. Kindergartens and primary schools have been ordered to shut their doors for two weeks.

BEIJING - WHEN seven-year-old Law Ho Ming fell ill last month, there was nothing to suggest he was down with anything more serious than the common flu.The Primary 2 pupil of Ho Yat Tung Primary School in Hong Kong’s western Tuen Mun district had developed the usual flu-like symptoms, including a cough and a mild fever. He was taken to see a family doctor on Feb 24 and stayed home from school.

But the ‘ordinary flu’ fooled everyone.

In just 15 days, the virus robbed Ho Ming’s parents of their chatty, rosy-cheeked child, leaving them distraught and heightening fears of a killer influenza in Hong Kong where at least three other kids have died and dozens of others are unwell with suspected flu.

The three others who died were three-year-old girl Ho Po Yi, 27-month-old boy Or Ho Yeung and a 21-month-old boy whose name was not revealed.

An inquest will be held to investigate the cause of Ho Ming’s death on Tuesday, reported the South China Morning Post.

Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection said the boy’s flu had developed into encephalitis (swelling of the brain), but tests were needed to confirm the exact cause of death, the paper said.
The viciousness of the suspected flu bug has brought back dark memories of another outbreak that assailed the city and nearby countries, including Singapore, just five years ago - severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars.

Sars victims also displayed the usual flu symptoms, but unlike sufferers of the ordinary flu virus, they deteriorated rapidly after being infected. In many cases, the Sars bug proved fatal.

While the flu bug currently going around in Hong Kong is not Sars, it serves as a reminder that influenza is a ‘nasty disease’, said Mr Peter Cordingley of the World Health Organisation.
‘We often say, ‘Oh, I’ve got a touch of the flu’. But in fact, influenza, when it is full blown, is a nasty disease,’ he told The Straits Times on the phone from Manila.

‘It kills the young and elderly, it kills those who have got underlying medical conditions, so it is a nasty virus and has to be treated seriously.’

A week after Ho Ming’s visit to the family doctor, he was no better. Alarmed that her son was still coughing and running a high fever of about 39 deg C, his mother took him to the Tuen Mun Hospital on March 6.

Tests performed by emergency room doctors, however, found no trace of meningitis or encephalitis. His chest X-ray was also clear. There was no need for a hospital stay, doctors said.
Back home, the boy’s condition took a sudden dive. In two days, Ho Ming was back at the hospital, semi-conscious and suffering from pain in his limbs.

This time, doctors warded him in intensive care, but by then, even their best efforts came too late.

Two days later, on March 10, the boy was declared brain dead, and his parents made the painful decision to take him off life support.

Ho Ming’s father, a construction worker, told the Hong Kong press that the doctors who treated his son had done their best.

‘My son’s sickness worsened very quickly…But I was mentally prepared that my son would not be able to hold out,’ he said. ‘I don’t blame anyone.’

But his wife was inconsolable.

Speaking to Hong Kong’s Ming Pao Daily News, the 48-year-old housewife whose full name was not released said she could not come to terms with Ho Ming’s sudden death.

She described her son as a ‘diligent, obedient boy who never caused her any worry’.

‘In just over 10 days, this virus took the life of a healthy, lively child. It is so vicious. I could not have stopped it even if I tried. I have only one son, why must it be this way?’
Source : Straits Times - 14 March 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest
Jerry Hansin (+65)9027 5537
email: jerry@assetomgt.com
website: www.assetomgt.com