22 March 2007
The nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) specimen taken on March 20 from the nine-month-old girl at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) was found to be negative to H9 virus, a spokesman for the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said today (March 22).
The girl was originally admitted to the United Christian Hospital (UCH) on March 6 for fever and was discharged three days later.
She developed another episode of mild symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection since March 17, and was admitted to PMH for observation when her NPA specimen taken at UCH was confirmed to be influenza A (H9N2) on March 20.
She is currently diagnosed to have respiratory syncytial virus infection and is in stable condition.
The spokesman said the CHP had visited the girl's home and conducted contact tracing.
“NPA specimen taken from all the girl's home contacts also yielded negative result to H9 while serology tests are pending,” the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the CHP has contacted the 10 children who had stayed in the same cubicle with the girl while the latter was under treatment in UCH.
Three of the 10 children and a healthcare worker of the hospital who had in contact with the girl reported to have mild upper respiratory infection symptoms.
“Clinical specimens are being taken from them, and preliminary results are expected in a few days.
“A variety of common respiratory viruses and bacteria can cause mild upper respiratory infection symptoms,” the spokesman added.
The spokesman said further genetic sequencing was being conducted to determine if the virus found in the girl's specimen from UCH was completely of avian origin.
Further investigation into the case with emphasis on the source of infection is ongoing.