According to Hong Kong media reports, scarlet fever has recently hit Hong Kong, and children under 10 years old are at the highest risk. In the past four weeks, the Centre for Health Protection has received 10 outbreaks in schools or child care centres, and in the first 11 months of this year, a total of 1946 cases were reported, an increase of 56% over the same period last year, two of which were admitted to the Intensive Treatment Unit (ICU). According to the Hong Kong Medical Association, if a patient with scarlet fever suffers from influenza or chickenpox at the same time, it will aggravate the deterioration of the condition and can be more serious and fatal. Although there is no preventive vaccine for scarlet fever, flu shots or chickenpox injections can help reduce its severity and sequelae.
The Centre for Health Protection said yesterday that 267 cases had been reported in the past four weeks and 10 outbreaks in residential buildings involving six primary schools, four kindergartens or child care centres, with 22 people affected. Of the 1946 cases of scarlet fever reported in the first 11 months of this year, the patients ranged from two months to 43 years old, of whom 96% were children under 10 years of age, most of them were mildly ill, and 36% required hospitalization, including two cases requiring admission to the Intensive Care Unit, and there have been no deaths so far.
Symptoms such as a cold are easy to ignore
According to the Center for Health Protection, the overall epidemiology and clinical symptoms of this year's cases of scarlet fever are similar to those of previous years, and there is no evidence of a recent genetic mutation in Streptococcus acetogenes that cause scarlet fever. The Medical Association said that as in the past few years, the vast majority of people affected are children under 10 years old, and called on the public to pay special attention to the personal hygiene of young children and schoolchildren, including washing their hands before touching the nose and mouth, maintaining indoor air circulation, and trying to avoid crowded places during high incidence periods to prevent infection.
Tang Jisheng, director of the Medical Association and a pediatric specialist, said that the recent weather changes, poor resistance and seasonal influenza and other factors have led to a rebound in scarlet fever cases, and it is expected that the infection situation will continue to rise from this month to next month. Scarlet fever is a bacterial infection caused by streptococcus acetogenes, with an incubation period of one to three days, and symptoms such as colds, including fever, sore throat, rashes on the body and neck, especially low-grade fever, which parents tend to ignore.
Tang Jisheng said that if a patient with scarlet fever suffers from chickenpox or influenza at the same time, it will aggravate the deterioration of the condition and can be more fatal. In particular, he reminded parents that they must follow the doctor's instructions to allow their sick children to take a complete 10-day course of antibiotics. The treatment of scarlet fever must be early, the use of appropriate antibiotics and dosage, if the treatment is delayed, the bacteria into the bloodstream to the heart or kidneys, will cause complications, serious or even rheumatic heart disease, acute nephritis and other conditions.
Two children died of chickenpox at the same time
Chen Yicheng, vice president of the Medical Association and a pediatric specialist, said that two children died in Hong Kong in 2011 due to chickenpox at the same time, and children born before 2014 have not been funded to get chickenpox vaccines, and it is recommended that parents should take their children to be vaccinated as soon as possible.