Hospital identifies third death from rare infection
A third fatality from a rare fungal infection was identified by Princess Margaret Hospital yesterday, bringing the number of leukaemia patients affected to at least eight.
Last night, the Hospital Authority announced it was setting up an expert panel to advise on treatment of the infection.
The hospital identified the case yesterday during a retrospective review of deaths that could have been caused by gastrointestinal mucormycosis. The disease is an infection in the intestines caused by spores from a group of fungi called murorales. People with low immunity are most suspectible.
The 64-year-old leukaemia patient was admitted to the hospital for treatment on October 22, 2007, and died a month later, on November 21. He had not been treated at Queen Mary Hospital, which has recorded six cases.
A meeting of the authority yesterday to discuss the outbreak was attended by doctors in haematology, clinical oncology and microbiology.
The authority will start a two-week surveillance from Tuesday to test stool samples from all in-patients with leukaemia or lymphoma.
Yuen Kwok-yung, head of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, who revealed the cluster of cases on Wednesday, said there was no sign the infection was spreading.
'New cases are coming up as a result of retrospective reviews only. There is no new patient known to us.'
Professor Yuen said his team was 'quite sure' the fungal infections were caused by contaminated food. 'As long as the patients stop taking food that is not well-cooked, there will be no more new cases.'
The outbreak began in November in Queen Mary Hospital, when a boy of six with leukaemia died 23 days after developing a distended abdomen. Last month, an 11-year-old boy with leukaemia developed gangrenous appendicitis.
On Wednesday, a 38-year-old man, another leukaemia patient, was diagnosed with gangrenous appendicitis. Three other suspected cases have been identified at Queen Mary Hospital.
On Thursday, United Christian Hospital identified a suspected case when the fungus was found in the stool sample of a 48-year-old man. The patient, who was treated previously at Queen Mary Hospital, died on January 1.
The case identified yesterday by Princess Margaret Hospital was the eighth.
Yau Chun-chung, head of oncology at Princess Margaret Hospital, said the case of a 64-year-old patient who died more than a year ago might be related to the current outbreak.
Dr Yau said the surveillance project would involve more than 100 patients and would help experts to assess the scale of the problem.
'Some patients may just carry the fungus but do not have any symptoms. We have to find out how many patients actually have this fungus and what they have in common.'
Three patients have been put on a drug called posaconazole, the only treatment for the infection. But Queen Mary Hospital has only a small stock of free samples. It has suspended its bone marrow transplants until it can secure supplies.
