Scarlet Fever Hits the Territory

Hong Kong is currently undergoing a slight health scare. Scarlet Fever is quietly taking out children across the region and the health authorities say it might get worse before it gets better.



Being a relatively newcomer to Hong Kong there are lot of little aspects of life that a completely new experience. Health is one of them and the step from a colder part of the world to the warm, humidity of Hong Kong and Asia is going to reveal health concern that were far from my mind.

The current health risk is an outbreak of Scarlet Fever among children and has already caused some deaths. The last death reported by Scarlet fever in Hong Kong was over 10 years ago and this year the infection rate is more than 3 times the number of cases last year. Mainland China has also seen an increased rate of infections.

Young Children are more prone to the infection which causes a sore throat, rash and a raised temperature. Luckily the disease can be eliminated with some forms of antibiotics, more so if caught early.

According to the regions health officials, this is a mutant strain of the bacteria which probably explains why the infection rate is extremely high.

Currently over 600 cases of the infection have been reported. This is nothing like the devastating SARS epidemic in  2003 which was completely unknown and much more virile.

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