The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) made the following announcement today (December 22) regarding a case of hepatitis C infection:
     
     A 94-year-old female patient was admitted to the Orthopaedics and Traumatology Ward via the Accident and Emergency Department of QMH between July 16 and 22, 2016, for a back pain problem. During her stay in the ward, the patient showed liver function problems and viral hepatitis testing was arranged. The patient was later transferred to Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Fung Yiu King Hospital for rehabilitation. The test result on August 3 was indeterminate for the hepatitis C antibody and the patient was discharged on August 5.
 
     Upon discharge, the patient continued her follow-up at the Medical Specialist Out-patient Clinic and was in a stable condition. The patient was admitted to Medical Ward of QMH again, via Accident and Emergency Department on November 30. The attending physician, when reviewing the case, found that the second hepatitis testing was in fact arranged on August 24 and the test result, available on September 2, was positive for the hepatitis C antibody. The case was reported accordingly to the hospital and the Department of Health on December 5 and December 13 respectively.
 
     The hospital was deeply concerned about the incident and arranged for a hospital microbiologist and infection control experts to assess the case. Since the patient did not have a previous record of hepatitis C infection, the expert group was concerned about the possibility of hospital-acquired infection. However, as the patient had also stayed in the community for a period of time upon discharge, the expert group could not rule out the possibility of community-acquired infection.
 
     Since hepatitis C is transmitted mainly through blood contact, the preliminary focus of investigation is on blood product and blood transmission procedures. The expert group opined that compliance with stringent guidelines was required in the production of blood products, hence, the risk of contamination was relatively low. At the same time, the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service had followed up with the 25 blood donors whose blood had been transfused to the patient. So far, 23 donors have confirmed as negative for hepatitis C while the tests for the remaining two donors are being arranged. At present, blood collected from eligible donors has to go through stringent infectious disease screening before it can be used for clinical blood transfusion. This includes hepatitis B antigen and DNA, hepatitis C antibodies and RNA, HIV antibodies and RNA, T-lymphotropic virus antibodies and syphilis antibodies.
 
     As a precautionary measure, QMH has started contacting 14 patients who stayed in the same cubicle with the patient concerned to explain the incident to them while also arranging viral testing and health surveillance. This follow-up arrangement is instrumental to help identify the possible cause of infection and to ascertain the appropriateness of infection control measures now in place.
 
     The patient is currently staying at QMH and is in a stable condition.
 
     The hospital has reported the case to the Hospital Authority Head Office through the Advance Incident Reporting System and to the Centre for Health Protection. The hospital is also concerned about the cause of delayed notification of hepatitis C infection according to the stipulated guideline. Healthcare staff are reminded again on the requirement of timely reporting and to ensure clinical treatment is provided as appropriate.

Ends/Thursday, December 22, 2016
Issued at HKT 19:38

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