Ninth young child catches potentially lethal Streptococcus serotype 3 bug

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Ninth young child catches potentially lethal Streptococcus serotype 3 bug

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 01 December, 2013, 6:14am
UPDATED : Sunday, 01 December, 2013, 6:14am

Shirley Zhao [email protected]

An advertisement sticker for Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13)

Another child was yesterday confirmed to have been infected by a lethal bug which killed a five-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy within a week last month.

The three-year-old girl was in serious condition at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan.

She is believed to be the ninth Hong Kong child under the age of five to be infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3 this year. University of Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung said although the latest pneumococcal vaccine, Prevnar 13 (PCV13), is only about 63 per cent effective in children under three - the group at most risk of infection - it was still worthwhile for them to take a jab.

PCV13 is so far the only vaccine that protects against serotype 3. Children vaccinated before 2011 received other vaccines - PCV7 and PCV10 - that offer less protection. Yuen said children aged three to five who had received the earlier vaccines had a more mature immune system and their parents did not have to rush for the new vaccine.

According to Yuen, for these children, an additional injection of PCV13 could be at least 80 per cent effective against the killer bug.

"Parents can't skip PCV13 just because it's less effective in two-year-olds," said Yuen on a television programme yesterday. "It's worthwhile for personal safety."

From tomorrow, free PCV13 injections will be given to up to 1,000 children being cared for in public hospitals and who have low immunity. Children from families on welfare will begin receiving free injections at public clinics. A HK$50 subsidy is available for a jab at private clinics until next June. One doctors' representative suggested the full fee might be HK$250.

Yuen said the vaccine's effectiveness on children older than three can last for two years and they do not need to take the same vaccine again.

He warned parents to take children to the doctors as early as possible if they catch a cold and to keep them home from school or they could still risk contracting one of the other 90 serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae.