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Edith Lin

Hong Kong has recorded a surge in cases of a life-threatening bacterial infection in the first four months of this year, prompting a leading infectious disease expert to call on the public to consider vaccination when travelling.
Asian Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases president Dr Mike Kwan Yat-wah said Hong Kong had reported five invasive meningococcal infections so far in 2025, matching last year’s annual figure.
The five cases included a fatality, a 73-year-old man with chronic diseases.
“If the city has an asymptomatic patient, the disease can spread in the community easily,” Kwan warned.
“Apart from the government, healthcare professionals and doctors should proactively provide more information for residents to understand more about the disease and undertake precautionary measures.”

The infection, caused by the meningococcus bacterium, can result in a high fever, a severe headache, a stiff neck, vomiting, rashes or even death.
The disease is mainly transmitted by droplets and direct contact through respiratory secretions from the infected, and is endemic in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.
The incubation period varies from two to 10 days, with three to four being the most common.
The most recent cases involved two workers at a construction site, the expansion of United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong.
A seven-year-old boy was also found to be infected in March. His condition remains stable.
The number of invasive meningococcal infections between January and April equalled the total from last year.
Kwan called on authorities to monitor the trend closely and for the health sector to increase public awareness.
Patients should visit a doctor as early as possible, he said, noting that their condition could deteriorate quickly.

According to Kwan, vaccination is the best prevention, and parents should consider getting their children inoculated after seeking medical advice.
The UK, Canada and Australia had reduced the number of cases after including meningococcal vaccination in their immunisation programmes, Kwan said.
But he added the disease was still rare in Hong Kong and it was not necessary to include vaccination in the city’s childhood immunisation programmes, which currently cover tuberculosis and chickenpox, among others.
Residents travelling to and living in foreign countries where meningococcal diseases were endemic should consider getting jabs against the infection, he said.
Kwan cited overseas figures, saying the UK had recorded 341 cases of invasive meningococcal disease in 2023-24, while Australia had 141 in 2023.
He urged the health sector to step up public education in identifying the symptoms, which are similar to flu, and maintaining good personal and environmental hygiene.
Separately, Kwan and other international experts under the society urged Asia-Pacific economies to consider adding vaccines against meningococcal infections to their immunisation programmes based on local epidemiological data and professional guidance.
They also noted that different places in the Asia-Pacific region had considerable gaps in surveillance data, urging national and local authorities to include invasive meningococcal diseases as a notifiable condition.
Invasive meningococcal infection is a statutory notifiable disease in Hong Kong.


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Health & Environment

Expert says the disease is still rare in Hong Kong but travellers heading overseas should consider vaccination


Expert says the disease is still rare in Hong Kong but travellers heading overseas should consider vaccination.


Disease

Hong Kong society

Medicine