Health | Two-year old hospitalized with flu complications, six new cases reported

A two-year old girl has been hospitalized in Kiang Wu Hospital due to complications related to an infection caused by the Influenza A virus. The child, a local resident attending Santa Rosa de Lima Nursery, has been hospitalized after complications arose while treating the flu  which she had been diagnosed with last Friday, the Health Bureau (SSM) informed in a statement.

According to her medical report, the Outpatient Clinic of Kiang Wu Hospital initially received the case in the morning of January 11. After the girl was tested positive for influenza A virus, she was released with a prescription for the medicine “Tamiflu”.

However, the symptoms persisted and progressed to convulsions and consciousness disorder, which resulted in the girl being brought back to the hospital that night for treatment through the Emergency Service.

The girl’s high fever led to a lumbar puncture examination which revealed an increase in the intracranial pressure resulting in the diagnosis being changed to influenza A infection with mild encephalitis.
The SSM added according to the latest update, the patient is in a stable condition and is responding positively to the treatment. The same report also noted that none of the girl’s family members has reported any symptoms of the disease and the nursery has not registered any case of infection with flu.

This is the second recent case of encephalitis affecting a child in Macau. Last week, a four-year-old boy was in a life-threatening situation from the same infection, but his condition has improved since.

Additionally, the SSM reported that there were six new cases of flu with pneumonia reported on Saturday in both the Conde de São Januário Hospital Center and the Kiang Wu Hospital. Five of these required hospitalization and one needed medical treatment.

These cases resulted in the total figures rising, from September 2018, to 21 cases of influenza with pneumonia or other complications, which resulted in one death.

According to the bureau, in 76 percent of cases, patients had not been vaccinated against the flu. RM