Asia Reports First Case of Swine Flu in Hong Kong

[Coventina]

Source: New York Times

HONG KONG — Swine flu spread to Asia on Friday, as Hong Kong authorities announced the continent’s first case, a 25-year-old traveler who came from Mexico via Shanghai, and immediately quarantined an entire hotel where the traveler had stayed on Thursday night.

The case re-awoke memories of SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome that arrived in the territory six years ago, and raised concerns that the virus may have been introduced to mainland China, although the man did not leave the airport while in Shanghai. Flu experts have warned that it would be harder to manage the disease if it becomes established in Asia’s densely populated countries.

Worldwide, the number of confirmed cases of what is now known as influenza A(H1N1) continued to climb. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its total number of confirmed cases in the United States on Friday to 141 cases in 19 states, up from 109 cases in 11 states a day earlier. Five of the new cases are in New Jersey, he said.

Hong Kong’s first confirmed arrived Thursday afternoon on a China Eastern flight, then checked into a local hotel and fell ill, health officials said in an evening press briefing. Hong Kong authorities responded quickly, quarantining the man at a local hospital, declaring a health emergency, and then quarantining all 200 guests at the hotel, the Metropark, for seven days — whether or not they had contact with the man.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/health/02flu.html?ref=asia