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■最近有研究指，H7N9有人傳人的潛在危險。 資料圖片
香港大學醫學院與中國疾病預防控制中心24日發布一項關於H7N9禽流感的合作研究結果，發現H7N9禽流感病毒可在哺乳類動物之間傳播，有人傳人潛在風險。研究首度證實H7N9可透過親密接觸人傳人，感染後亦可能沒有病徵，增加社區爆發的機會，顯示應付H7N9的防疫難度不容低估。當局應加強入境檢測，做好申報制度及追蹤工作，確保第一時間發現感染者，盡快隔離處理。研究發現豬隻可感染H7N9，當局防疫工作須禽豬兩手抓，嚴防病毒洗牌變種，對人類構成更大威脅。
雖然最近兩周內地已無新增H7N9感染個案，疫情有緩和跡象，香港多宗疑似個案亦沒有一宗確診，但是廣州和東莞等地市場近日已相繼發現雞隻樣本感染或懷疑感染H7N9，顯示廣東省出現人感染H7N9病例風險進一步增加，隨時出現散發病例。針對可能存在隱形患者，當局應加強各入境關口的旅客體溫檢測工作，對可疑人士及早作出識別及跟進。現時第二波禽流感疫情可能在今年秋冬轉冷時隨候鳥南飛再爆發，病毒有機會潛伏在雞場或豬場內，引發人類感染新個案，當局需加強追蹤研究，及早防範。
Monitor avian swine flu epidemic and stringently guard against invisible patient
The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention jointly published on 24 May the result of a collaborative research on H7N9 avian flu. The research has found that H7N9 virus can be transmitted between mammals and there is the potential risk of human-to-human transmission. This is the first time a research has proved that H7N9 can be transmitted between human beings through close contact and that there may not be any visible signs of infection on the affected person. This means that there is an increasing risk of an outbreak in the community, and so the difficulty in preventing an H7N9 epidemic cannot be underestimated. The authorities should step up health checks at immigration points and maintain an effective health declaration and tracking system to ensure infected persons are identified as soon as possible and quarantined immediately. The research has also found that pigs can also be infected by H7N9 virus. Infection control should therefore aim at tackling both avian flu and swine flu at the same time in order to guard against a viral genetic change and mutation which may pose an even greater threat to human beings.
No new cases of H7N9 infection had been reported on the mainland in the past two weeks, showing signs that the epidemic had eased up. Also, none of the suspected cases in Hong Kong had been confirmed positive. In spite of these, there have been confirmed and suspected cases of H7N9 infection in chicken samples from Guangzhou and Dongguan wet markets, which suggests an increasing risk of human infection of the H7N9 virus in the Guangdong Province and sporadic cases may occur any time. In view of the possible existence of invisible patients, the authorities should step up temperature screening at the immigration points to timely identify and follow up on the suspected cases. At this stage, it is possible that the second wave of avian flu outbreak will occur in between autumn and winter this year when the weather turns cold and the migrating birds travel southward. There is a chance that the virus incubates in chicken farms or pig farms and eventually causes new cases of human infection. To take early precautions, the authorities have to strengthen their tracking and research efforts.（節自香港《文匯報》2013年5月23日） ■Translation by Tung-ming [tungming23@gmail.com]
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