Two-year-old girl in critical condition with severe influenza complications

Hong Kong has recorded another severe paediatric influenza case, involving a previously healthy two-year-old girl.

She developed fever and vomiting on Tuesday and sought treatment at the Accident and Emergency Department of United Christian Hospital the following day. Her condition deteriorated, and she suffered shock while in hospital. She was transferred to the paediatric intensive care unit, and is now being moved to the Hong Kong Children's Hospital for further treatment. She remains in critical condition.

Doctors say she has been clinically diagnosed with influenza A complicated by shock, encephalopathy and multiple organ failure. The girl had not received a flu vaccine and had not travelled during the incubation period. One of her household contacts recently developed mild respiratory symptoms but has already recovered and did not require hospitalisation.