The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre has announced that a 48-year-old man who received his first BioNTech mRNA jab on May 13 has been diagnosed with acute necrotising epiglottitis – a life-threatening disorder due to the inflammation of the epiglottis, which occurred after he came down with dyspnoea (shortness of breath) and passed out in his home.
The epiglottis is a leaf-shaped flap in the throat that prevents food from entering the windpipe and the lungs.
The case, which was announced by the centre in a statement on Friday, has been classified as a serious post-vaccination serious adverse event. It was Macau’s third case of a serious adverse event following a COVID-19 vaccination.
However, the Health Bureau (SSM) has concluded that the case was merely a coincidental event – i.e. the patient’s adverse event was not related to his COVID-19 vaccination, the statement said.
According to the statement, the man, who received his first BioNTech jab at a public health centre on May 13, came down with a sore throat on Monday last week. The man’s sore throat condition deteriorated and he developed minor shortness of breath on Wednesday morning so he went to a private clinic for treatment where he was prescribed anti-infectives.
However, the man’s shortness of breath intensified shortly after returning home, where he passed out, the statement said, adding that he was rushed by ambulance to the private Kiang Wu Hospital for emergency treatment.
ICU treatment
The man’s heartbeat was restored by the emergency treatment, after which he was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), the statement said.
According to the statement, Kiang Wu Hospital has diagnosed the patient as having acute necrotising epiglottitis after carrying out a CT scan, direct laryngoscopy and blood analysis. The acute necrotising epiglottitis caused the man to suffer air obstruction, cardiac arrest and acute hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy – a disorder of the brain when it is deprived of adequate oxygen and blood supply, the statement said.
The statement said that the man, who was still undergoing ICU treatment on Friday, was in a serious condition.
Kiang Wu Hospital reported the case to the Health Bureau on Friday, when the bureau’s special working group tasked with assessing serious adverse events after COVID-19 vaccinations called an emergency meeting to discuss the case, which was also attended by the chief doctor who is treating the patient, according to the statement.
Bacterial infection
The statement noted that acute necrotising epiglottitis is caused by bacterial infection and there is no any evidence suggesting that COVID-19 vaccinations will increase the risk of coming down with the disease.
The statement underlined that according to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) standards on assessing post-vaccination adverse events, the working group has determined that the disease which the man came down with after having had his COVID-19 jab did not, both “collectively and biologically”, have a causal link with his inoculation, apart from the fact that his disease could be explained by other “clinical factors”.
Consequently, the special working group concluded during Friday’s meeting that the man’s serious adverse event following his COVID-19 vaccination was not related to his COVID-19 inoculation and instead was merely a coincidental adverse event.
Meanwhile, the centre announced in a statement yesterday that as of 4 p.m. yesterday, 148,793 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered to 93,566 people in Macau, comprising 37,986 who had received their first jab and 55,580 who had received their second jab.
A total of 11 adverse events were reported in the past 24 hours (until 4 p.m. yesterday). The total number of adverse events since the start of the vaccination drive stood at 662, or 0.44 percent of the total number of jabs, including three serious cases.
14-day quarantine for arrivals from area in Guangzhou
Meanwhile, the Macau government has imposed its 14-day hotel quarantine on those who have been to a certain area in Guangzhou within the past 14 days.
Under the measure, which took effect on Saturday, those who have been to the provincial capital’s Jinlong community of Longjin subdistrict of Liwan district within the 14 days prior to their entry into Macau must undergo 14 days of quarantine and medical observation at one of the government’s “quarantine hotels” upon their arrival here.
The Guangzhou government reported a new locally-transmitted COVID-19 case on Friday, a 75-year-old woman who lives in Jinlong.
Guangzhou’s health authorities announced last night that the woman has been diagnosed with carrying the mutant strain spreading in India that is more contagious. The provincial capital’s health authorities have “provisionally” concluded that the woman’s case was “connected to an imported case”. Her husband has meanwhile been diagnosed with COVID-19, the authorities said last night.
Health workers collect samples from residents for nucleic acid tests (NATs) in Guangzhou’s Liwan District on Friday. Courtesy of CCTV
