Hong Kong has recorded its first case of Japanese encephalitis in six years after a 49-year-old woman was diagnosed with the potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease upon returning from the Philippines.
The Centre for Health Protection said on Wednesday that the imported case involved a foreign woman who was in a stable condition. She had travelled to the Philippines between July 21 and August 4, including visiting rural areas.
“Since the patient stayed in the Philippines during the incubation period, the centre considered that she was infected during travel, and the case was classified as an imported one,” it said.
The centre said the woman suffered from a fever, headache and vomiting from August 10 and had sought medical help from the accident and emergency department of Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin two days later.
She was hospitalised last Thursday when she visited the hospital for a second time due to persistent symptoms.
