Press Releases

Transcript of Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

Following is a transcript of the remarks made by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, at the Central Government Offices today (February 11):

Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food: We have been in contact with the Ministry of Health in China and we understand that the situation, as has been reported by the media, that there have been about 300 cases of which there are five fatalities. But many of the infections have been mild and there is no need for people to worry and to panic. The authorities in Guangzhou have already said that there has been no need for people to panic. They are now trying to discern the cause of the pneumonia because pneumonia can be caused by a whole variety of organisms. In the community, pneumonia can occur and usually is not epidemic in normal individuals and the numbers are usually small. So it occurs in China, it occurs in London, it occurs in New York, it occurs in Hong Kong, it occurs in Singapore. If there is no out-of-the-ordinary occurrence, you should not panic until you know what the causes are. And there are other causes of pneumonia. Say, after influenza, it usually strikes at the very young and the very old and you get viral pneumonias. Obviously, there are particular forms of pneumonia like atypical pneumonia but those are usually sporadic at the outset and they are usually quite limited in the outbreak.

One needs to understand the basis of the outbreak first, or whether there is any outbreak at all, or what is giving rise to these particular cluster of cases before one understands what needs to be done. But for all intents and purposes, the authorities in China have already said there is no need to be concerned. Although we have not got to the bottom of the cause, that is certainly premature for people to panic. As far as Hong Kong is concerned, we have a very good surveillance system because we monitor what happens in Hong Kong. We have got very good data relating to influenza, infectious diseases and pneumonias. And the Director of Health has already said that our monitoring of pneumonias does not show any extraordinary trends. In fact, the number has been slightly below the number last year at this time of the year. So, there is certainly no indication that we are getting any unusual pneumonias in Hong Kong.

The public just needs to understand that a lot of these pneumonias are caused by respiratory infection. They are formed by droplets. What you need to do is to really take good care of yourself. Your propensity to infections is based on two factors. One is of course by infecting dose. So you need to be very careful in terms of good personal hygiene because other than being in contact through respiratory droplets, these droplets can contaminate the environment and you can get infections if you are not careful with your personal hygiene. The other thing is of course your own individual resistance and immunity. The better your health is, the less likely you come down with infections. You can build up your own immunity by making sure that you exercise regularly, that you have adequate rest, you don't smoke. These are general precautions that you can take. The other things are really not specific and most pneumonias, atypical pneumonia and bacterial pneumonia can be treated with antibiotics. The main thing is of course alertness. If you have any coughs or fevers that did not clear after a few days or if you are particularly worried that there are unusual features, then you go and see a doctor. Atypical pneumonias and bacterial pneumonias can be treated easily with antibiotics.

Reporter: Dr Yeoh, apart from the general precautions that one can take, do you have any advice for Hong Kong residents travelling in the area?

Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food: Hong Kong citizens should not panic. There is no reason why you should be panicking. When you travel to any place in the world, and you should not just highlight Guangzhou, you look at any place in the world, there are always going to be certain local infections, certain things that you need to be aware of. There is no indication that it is widespread in China, in Guangzhou. And the authorities had already said there was no need for people to worry because when you look at the number of cases compared to the population it is still very low. Obviously, on top of it, they recognise that they need to look in terms of what the causes are. So, until we know what the cause of this small outbreak is, I think all these things are premature. I think you just need to take general precautions to prevent droplet infections. These are respiratory infections. So you have to avoid crowded areas, take good precautions to build up your own immunity. If you are particularly worried, then perhaps some people use masks but good personal hygiene is important. You can get pneumonias anywhere in the world.

Reporter: There are atypical pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia and viral pneumonia. Do you have any suggestion that ....

Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food: I think the authorities in China are investigating it. Obviously, I think why people talk about atypical pneumonias is because there is specific anti-bacterial treatment. For viral pneumonias there is a whole range and the most common cause is by influenza. And the ones that we are concerned about at this particular time of year, not just in Hong Kong but everywhere in the world, is the different influenza subtypes. We have no evidence currently to suggest that there is different subtype. Obviously, we need to know whether something is happening in the community, in the environment that we need to take different precautions. But even with viral pneumonias, the commonest cause being influenza, there are influenza vaccines. If you have the proper influenza subtype vaccines, it will be effective in preventing influenza and it will also decrease the risk of pneumonias.

Reporter: (inaudible)

Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food: The Mainland authorities are looking into the cause of this.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion)

End/Tuesday, February 11, 2003
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