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A 70-year-old woman from Hong Kong's Wong Tai Sin District has been diagnosed with the disease this month, according to the Hong Kong Department of Health. She does not remember having direct contact with rodents or their excreta (feces and bodily fluids) and did not notice any rodents at her home, said the Ministry of Health in a statement.
The woman was admitted to a public hospital on May 4, 2017 for headaches, anorexia, malaise, abdominal pain and palpitations, which she had developed since May 1, 2017.
She quickly recovered and was discharged four days later on May 8th. The woman was suffering from underlying diseases, according to the Ministry of Health.
After this case, the Health Protection Center of the Department of Health provided blood samples of patients tested positive for the immune protein called anti-HEV immunoglobulin – a sign that a person is infected with HIV. 39 Hepatitis E, called HEV. Subsequent studies by the University of Hong Kong have detected obvious DNA elements of the HEV of the rat.
This is so the new case of the 70-year-old woman has been identified.
The apparent clustering of the two cases is worrisome and the Health Protection Center will continue to monitor the situation closely, Leung wrote, adding that sources and routes of infection could not be determined.
"It is likely that the virus is commonly found in rats, a study in Vietnam suggesting that more than 10% of them could have been infected," Martin Hibberd, professor of emerging infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, written in an email. "The infection can be contracted by close contact with rats, or perhaps more likely by food or water contaminated with rats."
The Hong Kong Public Health Laboratory Services Branch has set up a molecular test targeting different hepatitis E viruses and will use it to test for cases where the anti-HEV immunoglobulins are positive.
To prevent future infections, the public is advised to practice food safety, such as keeping hands and utensils clean, cooking thoroughly and keeping food at a safe temperature, the letter adds.
Specific suggestions for food safety include choosing safe raw materials, clean hands and utensils, separating raw and cooked foods, keeping food at a safe temperature, and cooking thoroughly.
The growing number of case reports in Hong Kong is, according to Hibberd, "likely at this stage to be due to better diagnostic tools and increased surveillance because the clinical picture can be confused with d & # 39; Other diseases ".
Hibberd said that "the recommendation of the Hong Kong team to increase surveillance in immunocompromised patients seems reasonable given the observation of the disease. Fortunately, the disease can be treated, the Diagnostic treatment can therefore play an important role in preventing the disease. "
Hepatitis causes inflammation of the liver, caused by various viruses. Most often, hepatitis A, B, and C spread through contaminated food, water, blood, and other body fluids, depending on the virus.
Eric Cheung and Meera Senthilingam from CNN contributed to this report.
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