Hong Kong may have silent chains of chikungunya fever transmission in the community, a leading infectious disease expert has warned, as authorities have yet to identify the source of the city’s fourth local case recorded last week.
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Joseph Tsang Kay-yan, co-chairman of the Hong Kong Medical Association’s advisory committee on communicable diseases, said on Monday that authorities should step up mosquito control, noting that cooler weather and declining cases in neighbouring Guangdong province would help the city contain the disease.
The city reported its fourth locally acquired case of chikungunya fever on November 13, involving a 68-year-old woman from Shau Kei Wan on Hong Kong Island who developed joint pain, fever and a rash before seeking treatment at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital.
Health authorities said earlier that the woman had no travel history in the past two months, adding that her residence and usual activity areas did not overlap with neighbourhoods where other cases had recently been detected.
“This latest case, I believe, highlights that we have some silent transmission chains in Hong Kong,” Tsang told a radio programme.
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“The second thing is that there is a high possibility that mosquitoes in Hong Kong also have many transmission chains [of chikungunya fever].”