Hong Kong battles surge in mycoplasma pneumoniae cases among children, as expert calls for city to boost supply of relevant medicine
- Experts says respiratory illness cases linked to bacteria have risen, with one noting public hospitals had seen ‘more than 100 cases every month from September onwards’
- Hong Kong’s health chief dismiss concerns over surge and stresses public healthcare system is equipped to handle any rise in upper respiratory tract infections
Hong Kong is grappling with a surge in respiratory illness cases among children infected with a bacteria contributing to an outbreak in mainland China, with an expert calling on city authorities to boost the supply of a medication used to treat the disease.
Dr Patrick Ip Pak-keung, of the University of Hong Kong’s department of paediatrics and adolescent medicine, on Saturday said the number of children admitted to public hospitals with mycoplasma pneumoniae infections had increased sharply since September.
“The situation at public and private hospitals is very worrying, the wards were crowded,” he said. “The admission rate of [children with] mycoplasma pneumoniae infections at public hospitals has increased rapidly since August, with more than 100 cases every month from September onwards.”
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According to the Centre for Health Protection, the bacteria is typically spread by respiratory droplets and has a three-week incubation period.
Common symptoms are consistent with a mild upper respiratory infection, including fever, coughing, sore throat and headaches. High-risk patients, such as elderly people, can experience severe pneumonia, encephalitis, kidney failure and haemolytic anaemia.
Ip said he believed an increase in travel to places such as the mainland in recent months had made it easier for viruses and bacteria to spread to Hong Kong.
Health authorities across the border last month said they were battling a surge in acute respiratory illnesses among children, attributing the increase in cases to a variety of pathogens, such as mycoplasma pneumoniae.
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Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection in late October told doctors that public hospitals had collectively logged no more than 16 cases of mycoplasma pneumoniae among children each month between January and July.
But the count rose to 57 in August and climbed to 106 in September, it said, adding the number of cases among children stood at 63 in the first half of October.
According to the centre, Hong Kong in 2016 recorded 180 to 289 cases each month during a May to August peak period. The range stood at 184 to 255 over the same period in 2019.
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Dr Mike Kwan Yat-wah, an honorary associate professor at the University of Hong Kong’s department of paediatrics and adolescent medicine, said that some doctors in the city were running out of clarithromycin syrup, an antibiotic used to treat the infection.
Some medical practitioners had resorted to grinding down clarithromycin tablets to make it easier for children to take, a method that had a less-effective absorption rate, he added.
Kwan said he was already talking to health officials about increasing the supply of clarithromycin syrup to help combat mycoplasma pneumoniae infections.
Health authorities said they would closely liaise with local pharmaceutical suppliers and manufacturers to ensure the city was amply stocked with the relevant antibiotics, adding they would monitor respiratory pathogens present in the community.
Dr Wilson Lam, vice-president of the Hong Kong Society for Infectious Diseases, said such infections were typically underdiagnosed as they presented mild symptoms compared with other types of pneumonias.
But patients were more likely to develop severe symptoms if they had picked up other infections at the same time, he said.
Lam also urged residents to maintain good personal hygiene, particularly when travelling to the mainland.
“The flu shot will not help protect against mycoplasma pneumoniae infections, this is caused by a bacterium, and influenza is caused by a virus,” he said. “It will not offer a cross-protection effect.”
But health minister Lo Chung-mau said outbreaks of upper respiratory tract infections were happening around the globe, stressing that the city’s public healthcare system could handle any case surge.
He also urged residents to get their flu and Covid-19 vaccines immediately, as the jabs needed about two weeks to take effect and the number of respiratory infections was expected to increase over the winter.
Hong Kong set for late start to winter flu season in February, expert says
On the weather front, the Hong Kong Observatory said the city was likely to experience fewer “cold days”, when the mercury dropped to 12 degrees Celsius (53 Fahrenheit) or below, over the winter amid possible large-scale temperature fluctuations.
The forecaster added that there would be a slight rise in temperatures over the coast of Guangdong province, ranging from 20 to 25 degrees, in the next couple of days.
A northeast monsoon would reach the coast of southern China next Wednesday, bringing cooler weather, stronger winds and one or two rain patches, it said.
An easterly airstream could bring a few rain patches to coastal areas over the next weekend, the forecaster added.
