Scarlet fever outbreak

HONG KONG (AP):

Ultramodern Hong Kong is tussling with a centuries-old bug long forgotten in many developed countries, an outbreak of drug-resistant scarlet fever that has killed the first children there in a decade. And with it is the rise of a mutated strain that appears to be more contagious.

The number of cases has spiked this year to more than 500, with health officials issuing warnings in the southern Chinese city jammed with seven million people and hypersensitive to any type of disease outbreak. Experts warn the main strain of the bacterial infection is likely transmitted easier. It is 60 per cent resistant to two drugs of choice, up from a resistance level of 10 to 30 per cent previously.

The illness leaves children with a fever, sore throat, bright red tongue and sandpapery rash. Penicillin still cures it, but doctors worry options will be limited if the germ eventually outsmarts that antibiotic before a vaccine is developed.

"That's the cause of lots of nightmares," said Dr Edward Kaplan. He heads a World Health Organisation research centre at the University of Minnesota that focuses on the strep germ, which causes scarlet fever. "The fact that we still have penicillin is something we all get down on our knees and say prayers about each night."