Pig disease hits 11th HK victim

The Standard
Aug. 23, 2005

A 62-year-old woman has been stricken with the deadly swine-born streptococcus suis bacteria - just 24 hours after the SAR authorities announced the territory's 10th victim - it was confirmed Tuesday.

And, in an indication of growing concern on the mainland, Shenzhen was put on high alert following the death of one of four infected persons in Guangdong province Monday, suggesting that dangerous meat may be traded across the country. All four had handled infected meat, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The announcement of Hong Kong's 11th victim of the disease this year came just as the government decided to resume pork imports from Sichuan province, which has been hardest hit by the recent epidemic.

The Center for Health Protection said the latest patient had no visible wounds and hadn't traveled recently outside Hong Kong. She was admitted to United Christian Hospital for treatment on August 19 after developing symptoms the day before.

She remains in a stable condition and her relatives are not infected.

On Monday, health authorities said a 79-year-old woman who came down with the illness remained in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

With pork imports set to resume from Sichuan, which so far has had 204 infections with 38 deaths, mainland lawmakers began deliberating tougher farming standards in an apparent bid to stem large-scale disease outbreaks that have claimed hundreds of lives in recent years, Xinhua reported.

A new law, if passed, would require all farmers to report outbreaks to local epidemic prevention and control centers and take steps to curb epidemics.

Despite a recent infection reported in Shenzhen Monday, pork from Sichuan and Henan provinces, and also Shenzhen, which supplies over 60 percent of the frozen and chilled pork to Hong Kong, will re-enter Hong Kong today for the first time since imports were banned late last month.

Li Changjiang, director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said after meeting with visiting health chief York Chow in Beijing that food supplied to Hong Kong is safe.

``The mainland and Hong Kong will study food safety concerns together,'' Li said. ``The Sichuan epidemic [has been] brought under control and pork exports to Hong Kong will resume.''

Chow said he is grateful for Beijing's concern over food safety issues and since the pig-borne disease outbreak in Sichuan has been brought under control, pork imports from Sichuan, Henan and Shenzhen will resume today.

``Both authorities have agreed to step up communication on food safety issues,'' Chow said.

The Sichuan outbreak has died down in recent weeks, the state health and agriculture ministries said Sunday.

The report confirmed no new cases of human infection since August 4 or pig infections since August 7 in the province.

It's still unknown how the common pig bacteria turned deadly and jumped to humans.

``The Shenzhen patient was engaged in cutting and transporting frozen pork and chicken, while the other three were all butchers,'' Xinhua said on its English Web site, www.chinaview.cn, citing a report in the Shenzhen Daily newspaper.

Authorities in Shenzhen, which gets about 70 percent of its frozen pork from Sichuan, Monday ordered all pork from the province to be sealed and inspected and were stepping up supervision of restaurants.

The Hong Kong Frozen Meat and Seafood Wholesale Retailers Association welcomed the decision, saying it's time for the government to recognize the importance of the health of pigs on the mainland.

But medical sector legislator Kwok Ka-ki said he's not totally satisfied with the lack of testing for pork imports.

``It's impossible to ban pork imports forever,'' Kwok said. ``But the public needs to see objective evidence, or test results, which guarantee the safety of the food imports. The evidence is lacking.''

He said mainland authorities conducting tests on pork will give greater confidence not only to Hong Kong but the world.

Center for Health Protection principal medical and health officer, Chuang Shuk-kwan, advised the public to maintain good personal hygiene when handling pork, as people could still become infected even if they do not have open wounds. ``Some people may not be aware that they have small wounds, and they could still be infected through contacting pork,'' she said.

Chuang said genetic characterization of the first nine of the 11 cases known in Hong Kong have shown different bacterial strains, suggesting the previous cases were sporadic and that there was no link between them.