Acute gastroenteritis outbreak extends to two more schools after Guangdong exchange tour

Two more schools were found to be involved in an acute gastroenteritis outbreak after exchange tours in Shaoguan, Guangdong, bringing the tally to 52.

All students and teachers of the three exchange tours dined in the same restaurants, triggering the Centre for Health Protection to suspect they got infected by consuming contaminated food.

The cluster came into light as 23 students from Sha Tin Government Secondary School showed symptoms of acute gastroenteritis after an exchange tour to Shaoguan on March 6 and 7.

As the health authorities launch an investigation, it was discovered that teachers and students from two other schools -- Lok Sin Tong Ku Chiu Man Secondary School and TWGHs Chen Zao Men College -- also fell sick after exchange tours to the same locations in Shaoguan in early March.

A total of 52 teachers and students developed acute gastroenteritis symptoms from March 3 to Monday, among which 16 have sought medical attention and none of them were hospitalized.

The center said it found that participants of all three tours dined in 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.

“Separately, a case vomited during the visit and more teachers and students subsequently fell ill after returning to Hong Kong. In this context, some of the cases may have been infected through person-to-person transmission or a contaminated environment,” it added.

Meanwhile, four schools saw acute gastroenteritis clusters after visiting Huangshan in Anhui province last month.

The CHP said a total of 43 students and teachers participated in the tour between February 17 and 21, with a student falling sick right upon arrival in the mainland without eating at any local restaurant.

Some students also vomited on the coach before more students showed symptoms, it said.

The center said 11 students and two teachers fell sick eventually. Ten of them sought medical attention and nine students tested positive for norovirus.

It believes the outbreak was caused by human-to-human transmission of norovirus or contaminated environment, and was not related to mainland restaurants.

Wallis Wang