In a follow-up on a post last week, The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health report investigating a second a case of human infection of rat Hepatitis E virus (HEV).
A 80-year-old female, a family member of a 91-year-old man from last week, lives in the same Residential Care Home for the Elderly (RCHE) in Kowloon City District. Since the two also share a similar exposure history, the CHP prudently arranged for her to undergo a blood test. Upon laboratory testing by the Public Health Laboratory Services Branch under the CHP, her blood sample tested positive for rat HEV.
The female patient has not exhibited any symptoms of rat HEV and her condition remains stable all along. The CHP will arrange her to undergo further examination and assessment at a hospital.
According to the information provided by the patient, the RCHE staff and the patient's family, the patient had no travel history during the incubation period and no direct contact with rodents, and no rats were observed in the RCHE. Apart from the meals provided by the RCHE, the patient dines at a restaurant in Homantin Plaza with her family at least once or twice a week. Family members of both patients, as well as other residents and staff of the RCHE, are currently asymptomatic and have been put under medical surveillance. No other confirmed cases have been identified so far.
This is the fourth case of human infection of rat HEV recorded so far this year.