Mother, 32, dies of malaria 'after two doctors fail to spot symptoms'

A Cathay Pacific flight attendant has died of malaria after two doctors from Hong Kong's biggest medical practice allegedly failed to diagnose the disease.

Akiko Chinen, 32, mother of a one-year-old girl, died of cerebral malaria at the Canossa Hospital in Mid-Levels on Friday, three days after being admitted semi-comatose and delirious.

Dr John Simon, who admitted her to the Canossa, said: 'When she came in to hospital she had a 30 per cent parasitaemia - that means three out of every 10 red blood cells contained the malaria parasite. This is huge and your chance of dying with that degree of parasitaemia is very high.'

Chinen was put on anti-malarial treatment in the intensive care unit when cerebral malaria was diagnosed 10 minutes after admission.

She suffered a heart attack the next day but was resuscitated, although she never regained consciousness, Dr Simon said, adding it was the first fatal case of malaria he had dealt with in Hong Kong.

Chinen had stayed overnight with a friend at a game reserve in South Africa after a working flight to Johannesburg at the end of last month, Dr Simon said.

She was seen by two private doctors at clinics run by Quality HealthCare, a Hang Seng-listed company, five days and one day before she was admitted to hospital, said Dr Simon, whose Central Medical Practice is also part of Quality HealthCare.