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.

Image: TopNews

Increase in Hong Kong's Tobacco Tax becoming Law.

Hong Kong Smokers lived in hope that the rise in tobacco tax would be overturned.

Smoking can damage your health and pocket

 

A few months have passed since the Government increased the tax of cigarettes that came in to effect immediately. This was quite massive tax hike of 41%  which saw the price rise to HK$50 for a packet of twenty cigarettes. %70 of that price is now Tax.

June, saw the Legislative Council finally pass the legislation and there is now going back now. I caught some of the debate but got totally lost when member Leung Kwok-hung, the otherwise known as "LongHair", invited the whole council to visit Bhutan.

As a smoker myself, I always feel a little bit persecuted for my pleasure. Like many other smokers in Hong Kong the rise seems unfair when. This will no doubt cause hardship among many elderly and those with low paid jobs.

Energy Drinks Pulled Off Hong Kong Shelves.

 
The Territory is under threat from more toxic substances, this time it appears to be Energy Drinks.
 

Europe is having its own scare with deadly life threatening E-Coli laden cucumbers bean sprouts and no doubt the USA is having some routine recall of meat or vegetables. Hong Kong, not to be outdone, has it’s own periodic little contamination scare and this time it is some thing called DEHP.


DEHP is a plasticiser - yep I have no clue what it is either - and has been found in energy sports drinks that apparently have come from Taiwan. Our Centre for Food Safety has slapped a ban on these drinks and whipped them off the shelf to keep us from harms way.

They say drinking high levels of this substance can cause problems in the kidney and liver area. Just to cause a little more alarm it can potentially cause cancer. Not quite sure what a high level is but it seems were not having any of it any-more.

So were safe - That is unless you take medication.

Not only are sports drinks contaminated but plasticisers are being found in medications. DEHP is joined by another chemical, DINP. These, like the sports drinks, originate from Taiwan.

DINP is used in drinks to make the liquid cloudy, which is intended to trick the consumer into thinking they are made from more natural ingredients and not just a bunch of chemicals in water.