Gastroenteritis outbreak among Hong Kong pupils, teachers grows to 52 cases
Students, teachers from two more schools stricken after dining at same restaurants on Guangdong tours, Centre for Health Protection says
A gastroenteritis outbreak affecting Hong Kong students on exchange tours to mainland China has worsened, with pupils and teachers from two more schools suffering similar symptoms after dining at the same restaurants, bringing the total to 52 cases.
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said on Tuesday night that during its investigation into the first cluster of cases, it found teachers and students who had joined two other exchange tours to the same locations in Shaoguan, Guangdong province, on March 3 and 4 and March 6 and 7 also developed gastroenteritis symptoms.
Lok Sin Tong Ku Chiu Man Secondary School and TWGHs Chen Zao Men College, both located in Kwai Chung, were the latest schools involved.
Including 23 pupils from Sha Tin Government Secondary School in the first cluster announced on Monday, 52 teachers and students have fallen ill. Sixteen of them sought medical attention but none required hospitalisation.
The centre said its investigation revealed that the teachers and students on the three exchange tours had dined at the same restaurants.
“The CHP could not rule out the possibility that some of the cases were infected by consuming contaminated food and has notified the Guangdong authority of the relevant restaurants,” it said, adding that it had also alerted the Education Bureau.