Hong Kong reports first locally acquired chikungunya fever case

Hong Kong has recorded its first-ever locally acquired chikungunya fever case, with health authorities warning that the 10,000 people who live in the same neighbourhood as the 82-year-old patient face higher risks of infection.

Authorities also announced on Sunday that citywide anti-mosquito work would be stepped up, especially around Fung Tak Estate in Diamond Hill, where the patient lived and was likely to have been bitten by virus-carrying insects.

The patient developed pain in her ankle on October 18, which later spread to other joints, prompting her to visit the accident and emergency department at Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei. She was admitted to the hospital and is in a stable condition.

The woman, who had not travelled outside Hong Kong in the past 1½ months, was diagnosed with the mosquito-borne disease on Thursday. The incubation period of the disease is two to 12 days.

“Generally, the flying range of Aedes albopictus [mosquitoes] is short. We draw a circle centred on the block in which the patient lives, with a radius of 200 metres [656 feet]. Residents of flats within this range are at risk of infection if they are bitten by mosquitoes,” said Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection.

“The range involves around 20 residential buildings, with around 8,000 households.”