The Macau Health Bureau (SSM) announced in a statement last night that an eight-year-old local girl was diagnosed with influenza A together with a cerebral haemorrhage in Guangxi earlier this month when she was visiting the autonomous region with her family, after which she was transferred to Macau on Saturday for continuous treatment.
She was still in a critical condition yesterday.
According to the statement, the girl, who studies in Hou Kong School’s primary section, had been healthy before being infected with influenza earlier this month.
The girl travelled to Wuzhou city in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region with her family on April 5. The girl’s family members took her to a hospital there for treatment on April 7 night after she came down with a fever, the statement said, adding that she was discharged that night after receiving treatment.
However, the statement said, the girl’s condition did not improve and she started vomiting on the morning of April 8. She fell into a coma while being taken to a hospital, after which she was admitted to its intensive care unit (ICU), the statement said.
In the hospital in Wuzhou, according to the statement, the girl was diagnosed with influenza A complicated with a pulmonary infection, acute necrotising encephalopathy (ANE) and a cerebral haemorrhage.
According to Wikipedia, acute necrotising encephalopathy is a rare type of brain disease (encephalopathy) that occurs following a viral infection. Most commonly, it develops secondary to infection with influenza A or influenza B.
According to yesterday’s statement, the girl’s condition still did not improve after receiving treatment at the hospital’s intensive care unit, after which she was transferred to Macau on Saturday when she was taken to the intensive care unit of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre.
She was still in a critical condition yesterday, the statement said.
The girl last attended school on April 4. She received a 2022-2023 seasonal influenza jab in November last year, the statement said.
According to the statement, the girl’s family members who travelled to Guangxi with her have not come down with similar symptoms.
The eight-year-old girl’s case announced last night came after two critical cases of influenza were reported in Macau on March 31 and April 4 respectively, a six-year-old girl and a 75-year-old man inflicted with chronic diseases.
The condition of the six-year-old girl started to improve a few days after she was admitted to the intensive care unit of the private Kiang Wu Hospital on March 31.
Conditions of 2 previous critical cases
Meanwhile, last night’s statement also reported the latest conditions of the six-year-old girl and the 75-year-old man. According to the statement, the six-year-old girl, whose condition has become stable, has now left the intensive care unit at Kiang Wu Hospital where she is now undergoing rehabilitation treatment on its general ward.
According to the statement, the condition of the 75-year-old man has meanwhile improved. The man, who was removed from a ventilator yesterday morning, continues to undergo treatment at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre’s intensive care unit.
As of yesterday, no fatalities caused by influenza have been reported in Macau this year.
This undated handout photo taken from the Health Bureau’s (SSM) website yesterday shows the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre.
