Hong Kong has asked one of its top scientists to study three child deaths over the past week amid a flu outbreak, the territory's health secretary said yesterday.
Health Secretary York Chow (
Chow told reporters that it was not clear if the three cases were linked but that he became concerned after the most recent death -- that of a seven-year-old boy on Tuesday -- because five of the victim's classmates have also been hospitalized.
The cause of the boy's death has not been determined. Officials have said that some of his classmates were believed to be suffering from the flu and the government closed the school earlier this week.
The five classmates who were still hospitalized were in stable condition, Chow said.
No cause has been determined in the two other deaths that occurred last week -- girls ages two and three -- officials said.
The deaths came amid a series of flu outbreaks in Hong Kong over the past several days. Health officials have confirmed a total of six outbreaks at schools, a hospital and a nursing home for the elderly since last week.
SARS infected 1,755 people in Hong Kong and killed 299.
None of the cases have been linked to bird flu, which was recently detected in birds in Hong Kong.
Bird flu remains difficult for humans to catch, but scientists fear the virus that causes it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans.
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