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Mary Ann

Mary Ann Benitez

The government is investigating eight cases of typhoid fever, including seven in Yuen Long, to see if they originated from a common source.

The cases, plus one that was classified as  imported, were reported to the Centre for Health Protection during a three-week period ending on Sunday.

The alert was raised last week when four children, aged nine to 13, from a family in Yuen Long came down with symptoms of typhoid, including fever, abdominal pain and vomiting.

The other cases in the area involved a 51-year-old man and two girls aged eight and 17.

The  eighth case was a seven-year-old boy who lives in Shamshuipo district. He was admitted to Caritas Medical Centre and is  in stable condition.

All seven cases in Yuen Long were admitted to Tuen Mun Hospital. The four children from the same family and the 17-year-old girl are in stable condition, while the eight-year-old girl and the 51-year-old man have been discharged.

The patients developed symptoms between November 18 and December 6.

Thomas Tsang Ho-fai,   community medicine consultant  for the Centre for Health Protection, said initial investigations did not point to a single common food premises or hawker that all the patients had patronised. 'More definitive laboratory results are expected in about two weeks,' Dr Tsang said.

So far this year, 33 cases of typhoid fever have been reported. Figures for 2001 to 2004 were 67, 67, 49 and 53. Dr Tsang said that in Yuen Long, the annual number of cases ranged from one to nine during the same period.

'It is usually transmitted by consuming food and water contaminated by faeces or urine of patients or carriers,' he said.

'Onset of the illness is usually marked by fever, tiredness, chills, headache and generalised muscle and joint aches. Diarrhoea, constipation, or abdominal discomfort may occur.'



Investigators hunt for source of eight typhoid fever cases