6 more Hong Kong students ill with gastroenteritis on mainland China school trip

Another six Hong Kong students have fallen ill with gastroenteritis while visiting mainland China on an exchange tour, bringing the tally to more than 100 in similar cases in the past few weeks.

The Department of Health said on Monday it was investigating the latest cluster involving six students from FDBWA Szeto Ho Secondary School in Kwun Tong.

They are among the more than 100 students from eight schools who have reported falling ill and visited locations such as Huangshan in Anhui province, Shaoguan in Guangdong and Xiamen in Fujian.

In the latest cases, students took part in an exchange tour to Xiamen between March 13 and 15 with 30 other classmates and teachers.

The six developed symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea and fever from around 9pm on March 14 to about 7am the next morning. Five sought medical attention in Xiamen, but none required hospitalisation.

“Preliminary epidemiological investigations revealed that all six affected persons had not consumed any common food items other than the group meals and had no other common exposure history in Hong Kong before their departure,” the department said.