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HK, Macau and Guangdong jointly tackle influenza and mosquito-borne diseases

Monitoring  cases of influenza and mosquito-borne diseases  have become the two priorities for health officials in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong.

Regional medical experts will  make it  their top focus following  a two-day meeting which ended in Hong Kong yesterday.

It was the fourth time the experts had met since May last year to discuss how to control infectious diseases.

Director of Health Lam Ping-yan  said the three centres would share information on cases  as part of a joint research effort.

'Influenza is a very important public health issue and there is no doubt about it,' Dr Lam  said.

'Of the various vector-borne diseases, I think mosquito-borne diseases should be our top priority' because they involve dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis and the like.'  Details  still  had to be set,  Dr Lam  said, but would include reporting the time and place of influenza cases and mosquito-borne diseases.

The decision follows an agreement in January that doctors from the regions will jointly examine and test people who catch bird flu.

Japanese encephalitis became a concern in Hong Kong in June after the disease killed an Indonesian domestic helper and left two men seriously ill.

The study of influenza and mosquitoes will be similar to that of Aids. Regional experts were completing an internet  database with information about Aids and HIV cases in 12 cities,  said Leung Pak-yin,  controller of the Centre for Health Protection.

Health officials must now decide who can access the database and how much information to disclose to the public. They were also trying to get more Guangdong cities to take part because only 10  were  contributing  information, Dr Leung  said.

As part of a continuing effort to exchange expertise,  Hong Kong and Macau medics will take part in  Guangdong's new epidemiology training programme.

Regional medical experts will also come to Hong Kong for a clinical training course on infectious diseases.

Experts in the three places will also look at  how to combine Chinese and western medicine to prevent infectious diseases.

Health officials from Macau, Guangdong and Hong Kong began meeting regularly after the Sars outbreak last year.

Forty-four doctors and health officials attended this week's meeting. The next meeting will be held in Macau early next year.

During their two-day visit to Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong officials inspected isolation wards at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Centre for Health Protection, which opened in June.

Local officials also updated their counterparts on the  Japanese encephalitis situation,  Sars treatments and training for infectious-disease control.

'We feel that each meeting is better than the last,' said Huang Fei,  deputy director-general of Guangdong's health department.

'The results from this meeting were very fruitful.'

Dr Lam  added that  'disease does not respect geographic boundaries ... I think we are making good progress on safeguarding public health'.



Two cross-border health threats targeted