The Centre for Health Protection today said it is investigating a cluster of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) symptoms among six secondary students who participated in an exchange tour to Xiamen last week.
The latest cluster involves 36 teachers and students from a Kwun Tong secondary school, who joined a Xiamen exchange tour between March 13 and 15.
On the second night of the tour, six students developed AGE symptoms – vomiting, diarrhoea and fever, from about 9pm to about 7am the next day. Five of them sought medical attention in Xiamen, and none required hospitalisation.
Preliminary epidemiological investigations revealed that all six students had not consumed any common food items other than the group meals, and had no other common exposure history in Hong Kong prior to their departure.
Hence, at this stage, the centre could not rule out the possibility that the cases were infected by consuming contaminated food.
It has notified the Mainland health authority of the epidemiological investigations and information about the restaurants concerned, in addition to collecting stool specimens from the patients for laboratory testing and notifying the Education Bureau of its assessment of the new cases.
The centre also gave an update of the three clusters of students participating in exchange tours to Shaoguan who developed gastroenteritis symptoms earlier.
Its follow-up investigation found that three more students developed gastroenteritis symptoms on March 7 and 9 respectively, bringing the total number of affected people to 55 teachers and students.
Among them, 16 have sought medical attention, and three have tested positive for norovirus. The centre will continue to work closely with the Guangdong authority and take necessary follow-up action.
In view of the recent high activity of norovirus, the centre has issued a letter to all schools in Hong Kong to provide health advice on the transmission, prevention and infection control of AGE.
It also organised an online meeting for the bureau and the exchange tours service contractors last week to provide health advice on the prevention of communicable diseases and food safety during trips.
Apart from the Mainland, there have been recent outbreaks of AGE in other popular travel destinations for Hong Kong citizens, such as Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan.
The centre reminds members of the public to remain vigilant and maintain personal, environmental and food hygiene at all times to minimise the risk of being infected while travelling.
Visit the centre’s website for information on viral gastroenteritis.
