HONG KONG: Hong Kong has declared an outbreak of scarlet fever after it claimed the life of at least one child while infecting thousands of others in the city and elsewhere in China.
A seven-year-old Hong Kong girl died from the illness late last month while a five-year-old boy in the city died Tuesday morning from what health authorities said was a "very likely" a case of scarlet fever.
Hong Kong authorities have recorded 40 new cases in the past few days, pushing the total number to 459 so far this year, the highest annual total in the city and more than three times the figure for the whole of 2010.
The boy -- who also had chicken pox -- developed a fever last Wednesday and was admitted to hospital on Sunday with symptoms of the illness.
His condition deteriorated rapidly and he died Tuesday morning, Thomas Tsang, controller of Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection, said.
Classes have been suspended at the boy's kindergarten for a week, a first for Hong Kong following a scarlet fever death.
"The situation is rather serious at the moment," Tsang said Tuesday.
"We are facing an epidemic because the bacteria that is causing scarlet fever is widely circulating in this region -- not only in Hong Kong but in mainland China and Macau."
Hong Kong radio station RTHK reported that 49 people had contracted the illness in Macau, a former Portuguese colony about an hour by ferry from Hong Kong, with nine taken to hospital but no fatalities.
Tsang said Tuesday that more than 9,000 people had been infected so far this year in mainland China, doubling the average figure in recent years. He did not say if there were any fatal cases.
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