A trio of suspected gastroenteritis cases at a Hong Kong hospital earlier this year, in which the death of a young doctor prompted concerns of an outbreak of a highly toxic strain of E coli, were unrelated, health authorities have found.
The Centre for Health Protection also said in revealing the outcome of its investigation on Friday that the young oncologist who died had traces of a certain kind of rotavirus, rather than the previously thought Shiga toxin-producing E coli (STEC), but that his cause of death was “uncertain”.
An expert from the investigating team suggested it was the first time that a particular strain of the rotavirus had been detected in Hong Kong, but there was no evidence of a community outbreak.
The death of the young doctor at Princess Margaret Hospital in February prompted concerns that an outbreak of the toxic strain had emerged after it was found in the stool sample of one of the doctors who suffered milder symptoms.
“Based on the available information, the [centre] confirmed that there was no STEC outbreak in the oncology department of [the hospital] and that there was no linkage between the illnesses of the three doctors,” it said.
The investigation, which included an expert team from the department of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), found that a stool sample of the doctor who was suspected of having a STEC infection did not grow “viable” bacteria of the infectious strain.
