Press Release - August 8, 2005
Hong Kong�s Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Mrs Carrie Yau, today (August 8) met the Canadian Minister of State (Public Health), Dr Carolyn Bennett, and her visiting delegation to discuss areas of mutual interest in infectious disease control, including the recent development in respect of Streptococcus suis outbreak in the Mainland.

During the meeting, Mrs Yau outlined the measures adopted in Hong Kong in the prevention and control of Streptococcus suis, as well as the findings of the Hong Kong expert team who took part in the investigation of the Sichuan outbreak. She also briefed them on the Government�s measures for preventing and controlling infectious diseases including avian influenza.

Noting the two places� common experience in infectious disease control, Mrs Yau said that there had been close cooperation between Canada and Hong Kong in this area. Examples included the participation of Health Canada�s expert team in the investigation works of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in Amoy Gardens in 2003 under the auspices of the World Health Organization.

�In preparing for the establishment of the Centre for Health Protection, which was formally launched in June 2004, we also sent a delegation to the British Columbia� s Centre for Disease Control in November 2003 and had benefited a lot from the Canadian experience," Mrs Yau added.

The two sides also exchanged views on possible areas for further collaboration in infectious disease prevention and control, including exchanges in respect of emergency preparedness plans, control measures, outbreak information and laboratory data, visits to infectious disease laboratories in Canada and mutual attachment training programmes.

Mrs Yau noted that the Canadian Public Health Agency had issued a travel health advisory about the recent Streptococcus suis outbreak in the Mainland, which mentioned �Streptococcus suis is found worldwide where pigs are raised, including in Canada and the United States of America�.

"Streptococcus suis is not an uncommon infection in pigs and that pork consumption is safe if it is properly handled and cooked," she said.

� To date, we are not aware of any of the members of the World Trade Organization imposing a ban on the importation of pork from the Mainland. However, we would continue to exercise due diligence in monitoring the situation" she added.

The Canadian delegation was led by Dr Carolyn Bennett, Minister of State (Public Health). Members included Ms Yasmin Ratansi, Member of Parliament; Dr Paul Gully, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, Public Health Agency of Canada; and Mr Michael Spowart, Chief of Staff, Office of the Minister of State (Public Health).


For more information, please contact: Stephen Siu, Assistant Director (Public Relations) of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office at: (416)924-5544 or email: [email protected] or Elison Chu, Senior Information Officer, [email protected]

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