Living with the threat of bird flu in Hong Kong

摘要

I knew before I came to work in Hong Kong that it was one of the safest cities in the World in which live. The Sars outbreak of a few years ago had come and gone but had left many scars in the families of those who had died and among the health professionals whose task it had been to trace and treat victims of the virus. Now the new fear is bird flu and the strain labelled H5NI, which has resulted in a few deaths in South East Asia in recent weeks. What is largely forgotten is the fact that in 1997 in Hong Kong the bird flu strain made its first known jump to humans. Infection was found in 18 people and six died.