HONG KONG : Two more children have come down with fever and symptoms of respiratory infections in a hospital where an outbreak of flu has claimed one life and stricken another 33.

It is not yet known if the two are suffering from the parainfluenza virus, which 19 of the infected children were found to have contracted, health officials said.

The Health Department said the flu (PIV), the second most common cause of acute respiratory illness in children, was found in specimens taken from patients of the Caritas Medical Centre, where an 11-year-old girl with chronic medical problems died of a chest infection on November 9.

The child's death raised fears of a SARS or bird flu outbreak.

Of the 36 children that have so far been isolated after displaying symptoms of flu, three have fully recovered.

The outbreak started on November 5 and quickly spread. It was initially thought the mystery illness could be related to the killer Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) or the deadly H5N1 strain of flu, both of which have claimed many lives here in recent years.

But SARS and bird flu were quickly ruled out by the health authorities. - AFP
 
 

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