Hong Kong closes all primary schools amidst "flu-like" outbreak
Scott McPherson
in Politics and government, influenza and infectious diseases
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5 Comments
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2 References
The hallways of Hong Kong's schools are eerily silent today. That is because in the wee hours this morning, the city's government ordered all schools closed early for the upcoming Easter holiday.
The reason: Influenza, or something like it, has wrought havoc upon Hong Kong's students. Severe outbreaks of respiratory virus have erupted in 25 of the city's schools in recent days, and several children have died.
The situation is not any easier in Hong Kong's hospitals, as some 15,000 hours of overtime have been clocked by nursing staff alone within the past two weeks (hat-tip to ironorehopper of Flutrackers).
Newspaper accounts vary as to the source(s) of the illness. Some call it flu, while others still refer to the malady as "flu-like". At any rate, this illness is now accompanied by another, possibly even more frightening disease: Encephalitis. The most recent HK death was a seven-year-old boy who died yesterday of encephalitis associated with flu-like symptoms. The mention of the very word "encephalitis" among flubies strikes severe apprehension at the best and outright horror at the worst. Encephalitis Lethargica, as you recall, was the "secondary pandemic" to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19. Think "Awakenings" with DeNiro and Robin Williams. Encephalitis Lethargica existed from 1917 to 1928, when it mysteriously vanished from the planet.
Now here's the interesting latest item: The nation's leading SARS and respiratory distress experts are being called in, apparently in an effort to pin down the origin(s) of the illness. It makes one wonder: If the BBC is saying (as recently as this morning) that this is a "mystery" flu, and the SARS gang is being called in, what in Sam Hill is going on in Hong Kong?
Now add to this discussion the recent words of Zhong Nanshan (see my recent blog post), and you have a lot of wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth in southern China right now.
Scott McPherson
http://www.news.gov.hk/en/category/healthandcommunity/080312/html/080312en05005.htm
The closing affects all primary schools, kindergartens and day care centers in the city. The above link is to the official press release.
Definitions of "primary schools" in Hong Kong can be pre-K to grade 5, or kindergarten to grade 6, depending on the school.
References (2)
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Reader Comments (5)
No, the link between von Economo Encephalitis and the current seasonal human influenza epidemic in Hong Kong seems to me without proof, at least to this moment. All the laboratory results exclude presence of avian influenza A/H5N1 in the recent deaths and until a more complete laboratory and post-mortem (anatomo-pathological findings) will be available every conclusion is purely speculative and add anxiety and panic without cause.
For the purpose of maintain trust in media information sites, journals, tv, careful evaluation of data and information is advisable for all people involved.
Ironorehopper,
Agreed on the need for both caution and a quick and transparent disclosure of the outcome of the analysis of the infections. I mention Encephalitis Lethargica in my blog not to say the HK children have it, but that encephalitis as a disease and influenza as a disease have an historic and ongoing relationship.
What is concerning me in HK is what we know it isn't. If H5N1 is excluded, and if the authorities have not yet been able to say with certainty that it is a particular type of seasonal flu such as H3N2 Brisbane, then what is it? Until that question is answered, speculation is going to happen. I doubt if any of this dialogue is adding to anyone's panic about this issue. I think the action taken to close all primary schools was incentive enough for this to happen.
Scott
MMWR - the weekly update of US CDC - is just fresh of print and report this 'Influenza-associated pediatric mortality, 8 - 41 (Current week cases / total since 2008) (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5710.pdf).
In Italy - my country - widespread epidemic of seasonal human influenza is ongoing since week 51 of 2007. Since then, A/H1N1/Solomon Island - A/H1N1/Brisbane - A/H3N2/Brisbane and B/Yamagata - B/Victoria strains were isolated. Influenza-like illness weekly incidence per 100,000 inhanitants in the 0-4 / 5-14 class ages reached 2,000 and more in certain regions but no panic happened, even a concurrent cluster of meningococcal meningitis serogroup C was discovered in a northern province.
Your citation of von Economo Encephalitis is valuable in my mind, and awake surely the stories my grandmother told me of the 'Nona' epidemic. This form of acute enchephalitis appeared in northern Italy in the late 1889 and killed most of the patients, but a minority developed the parkinsonism well depicted by O.W. Sacks in the 'Awakenings' book. Some of these patients were forcely hospitalized in Insane Asylums for the rest of their life.
Ironorehopper,
Thanks for the update. Did not know you were in Italy! Most excellent.
Hmmm, 1889 was also a pandemic year. I thought the stuff in "Awakenings" was overblown until I saw the BBC docudrama "Pandemic" last year. Toward the very end of the documentary/dramatization, they showed film of actual "Nona" patients from the 1920s, and it was the most chilling and haunting thing I have ever seen on film.
Thanks also for the info on the current situation in Europe. I was trying to find similar information on Egyptian cases for a blog entry earlier this week, and so we may be able to insert the European data for Egypt, since it is a beehive of intercontinental activity.
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