Hong Kong schools and parents should bring forward vaccination appointments for pupils and children and strengthen control measures, infectious disease specialists have said, warning that influenza B is just as dangerous as influenza A.
Their calls were made after a 13-year-old girl who had not received the seasonal influenza vaccination died in hospital on Sunday following an influenza B infection. It is the first paediatric flu-related death in Hong Kong this year.
“School administrations should consider liaising with the school immunisation teams for earlier vaccine appointments,” said Dr Mike Kwan Yat-wah, president of the Asian Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases.
“Parents can also decide to get their children vaccinated in other ways, such as through private doctors.”
He also stressed that serious complications could arise from seasonal influenza.
According to Kwan, the influenza B virus can cause myocarditis – an inflammation of the inner muscular layer of the heart – or affect other organs.