A 58-year-old man is seriously ill in hospital after being vaccinated against swine flu.
News of his condition - he suffered weakness in both legs soon after receiving the jab - came as the government reported only 5 per cent of the two million people in Hong Kong deemed at high risk had taken advantage of subsidised flu shots in the three weeks they have been available. The man is the first person in the city to fall seriously ill after being vaccinated.
The Centre for Health Protection is investigating his case. An expert group formed to consider serious reactions among people receving the swine flu vaccine will meet today to discuss the man's condition.
Infectious-diseases specialist Dr Lo Wing-lok said it was probable that the condition was a reaction to the vaccine but the government needed to establish whether or not that was the case.
One of the most serious side effects of vaccination for flu is Guillain-Barre syndrome, an acute disorder in which the body damages its own nerve cells, resulting in muscle weakness in, and sometimes paralysis of, the limbs. However, Lo said weakness in the legs was not typical of the syndrome, which more usually affected the arms, respiratory system, eyes and throat.
University of Hong Kong microbiologist Dr Ho Pak-leung said the man's limb weakness would not be linked with the flu shot if the problem arose two or three days after receiving it. But if the problem arose within two or three weeks of vaccination, an investigation was needed.
The man was vaccinated on Christmas Eve and admitted to Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam on Saturday, a week after he began experiencing weakness in his legs.