Food
and Health Secretary Dr Ko Wing-man on Thursday did not out the
possibility that more Hongkongers might be have the deadly H7N9 virus
after a Hong Kong patient came down with the avian flu following a
mainland trip.
The patient, a 66-year-old man with no history of consuming or coming
in contact with live poultry, was diagnosed with bird flu after
“passing by” a wet market in Shenzhen.
The man, who is in critical condition, is in isolation and getting intensive treatment at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam.
“In the past, the virus has been detected in many samples taken from
the environment. It means people should be careful when visiting wet
markets, especially where live poultry is on sale,” Ko said. “The risk
for people who suffer from chronic illness to visit the wet market is
also higher.”
Ko noted that the patient with H7N9 was already suffering from
long-term illness and required regular hemodialysis, a process for
cleansing the blood of toxins.
Ko said experts have warned that the virus could be more active in
winter, and believed more cases would emerge around Guangdong province
and other southern Chinese regions.
But Ko maintained that Hong Kong would not halt all imports of live
poultry from the mainland, although it has already suspended supplies
from Shenzhen farms for the time being.
The import ban on three Shenzhen farms has been in place since the http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1371483/hong-kongs-first-case-h7n9-bird-flu-virus-confirmed - first H7N9 case
in the city was last month. The patient, an Indonesian domestic worker,
contracted the deadly new strain after travelling to Shenzhen where she
was said to have bought and cooked a live chicken.
University of Hong Kong’s microbiologist Ho Pak-leung said that while
he praised the government for suspending the Shenzhen supply at an
earlier stage, Ho stressed it was time for a complete halt on all import
of live poultry from the mainland.