14-month-old girl is Hong Kong’s third child fatality this flu season

A 14-month-old girl died in Hong Kong on Friday after catching influenza, the third death of a child recorded by the city’s health authorities this flu season.

The Centre for Health Protection said that although influenza activity had shown signs of decline since the city entered flu season in late June, it remained above the baseline thresholds.

Twenty-nine severe cases involving children have been recorded. Apart from the three who died, two children remained in a serious condition in hospital, another two were in a stable condition and 22 had been discharged.

The child who died on Friday developed a fever and cough on October 26 and had a convulsion the next day.

She was brought to the Tseung Kwan O Hospital on that day before being transferred to the paediatric intensive care unit of United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong.

She then tested positive for influenza A virus, with her clinical diagnosis complicated by acute necrotising encephalopathy and multi-organ failure.

The girl, who had not received a flu vaccination, died in less than three weeks.

Health authorities urged parents to take their children aged six months or older to receive a flu vaccine as soon as possible, except those with known contraindications. Unvaccinated children are five times more likely than vaccinated ones to develop severe complications or die.

The vaccination rate of children aged six months to five years was 27.5 per cent as at October 25, according to government statistics.