The Health Bureau (SSM) said in a statement yesterday that the chickenpox virus in Macau has become more active recently, with a weekly average of eight cases since the first of this month, rising to 40 cases last week, which is much higher than the three cases in the same period of last year, and called for vigilance from parents, educational institutions and childcare centres.
The statement said that two cases of chickenpox cluster recently reported by Colégio de Santa Rosa de Lima - Secção Inglesa and Colégio Dom Bosco (Yuet Wah), with a total of 18 patients who had received one dose of varicella vaccine.
These patients have shown symptoms of red rash and blisters on the head, face, limbs and chest and back since last Sunday, all of them have no serious illness or other serious complications.
Between the beginning of this year and yesterday, a total of 355 chickenpox cases had been recorded in Macau, representing a year-on-year increase of 134 cases, the statement said, adding that six cases required hospitalisation and were discharged from hospitals after recovery, and there were no serious and fatal cases. About three quarters of the cases were children, with most of them aged 8 to 17.
In addition, the bureau recorded a total of 449 cases of mandatory declaration of diseases last month, a decrease of 32 cases compared with September, according to the statement.
Among respiratory diseases, there were 88 cases of influenza, a month-on-month decrease of 57 cases, and a significant decline from the 2,699 cases recorded in the same period last year, the statement said.
In October, number of salmonella infections decreased by 41.1 percent to 33, while the number of scarlet fever infections increased by 47.2 percent to 53, and the number of Norwalk-like virus infections decreased by 52 percent to 13, while the number of chickenpox cases increased by 1.8 times to 25, the statement said.
A total of 32 cases of tuberculosis were recorded in October, representing a year-on-year decrease of 2 cases, the statement said, adding that 18 imported dengue fever cases and one local dengue fever case were recorded, while one case each of AIDS and Legionnaires’ Disease were confirmed last month.
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