The Centre for Health Protection announced today the first imported human case of avian influenza A (H7N9) in Hong Kong this winter, involving a 60-year-old man from Jiangsu who has been hospitalised.
The patient, with good past health and living and working in Suzhou, had visited a wet market near his home but reported no poultry contact.
He came to Hong Kong on February 5 and came down with a fever, chills, rigor, cough and shortness of breath three days later.
A private doctor referred him to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital for treatment on February 11.
He was discharged on February 15 after preliminarily testing negative for influenza A. Further tests were positive for H7N9.
He was admitted to the Hospital Authority Infectious Disease Centre in Princess Margaret Hospital today.
The case will be notified to the World Health Organisation and the National Health & Family Planning Commission.
It is the 14th imported human case of avian influenza A (H7N9) confirmed in Hong Kong.
The centre urged people, particularly travellers, to heighten flu vigilance.
