The Health Bureau (SSM) announced in a statement on Friday that 174 students were reported to have contracted the flu, quoting the private Kiang Wu Hospital as saying that a six-year-old girl was in critical condition due to flu with encephalitis.
According to the statement, the six-year-old girl, who is a student of Tong Nam School, came down with a fever, was coughing up phlegm and had a runny nose on Wednesday. After going to a private clinic in the evening the same day, she was admitted to the emergency department of Kiang Wu Hospital on Thursday morning with a high fever, after which she tested positive for the influenza A virus in her respiratory specimen. She was then treated and discharged after being prescribed Tamiflu, the statement noted.
However, the statement said, the girl’s symptoms worsened by noon on Thursday, with her temperature reaching about 42°C. She was vomiting and had slurred speech, and an MRI of the brain diagnosed encephalitis with influenza A. She was hospitalised immediately and was transferred to intensive care on Friday for further treatment, the statement said.
The statement added that the patient received the 2022-2023 seasonal influenza vaccination on November 20 last year. Her family members did not show similar symptoms and there was no cluster of influenza-like illness in her class, the statement noted.
In addition, the statement said, students in 17 schools were reported to have caught the flu starting from last Sunday, including 43 students from the Premier School Affiliated to Hou Kong Middle School, with one patient from the Lou Hau High School (Workers’ Children High School) kindergarten who required hospitalisation due to persistent high fever, while the rest of the patients are in stable condition with no serious symptoms.
The Health Bureau stresses that flu jabs are the most effective measure to prevent influenza, adding that pregnant women, young children, the elderly and people with chronic diseases are more likely to develop serious complications or even die after being infected with the influenza virus.
The bureau urged residents to get the seasonal influenza vaccination as soon as possible.
For more information, the public can visit the website of the Health Bureau at http://www.ssm.gov.mo/csr or call 2856 1122 during office hours.
