Hong Kong says no new flu strain detected in recent outbreak

Scientists have confirmed that no new flu strain has emerged in Hong Kong's recent flu outbreak, the government said Friday.

Scientists have completed gene sequencing on the flu viruses from two children who died amid the recent outbreak and found that their genetic makeup matches that of flu strains that are already circulating, a government statement said.

"These results confirm that the two children did not die from a new virus that is more virulent than the circulating strains in the region," the statement said.

The results eased fears that a new, deadlier strain of flu might have emerged and bolstered claims by the World Health Organization and the Hong Kong government that the recent outbreak here is not cause for alarm.

The WHO has called the situation a seasonal flu outbreak. It noted the two children, a 7-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl, also suffered from encephalitis and a metabolic disease. Officials have not yet determined what caused their deaths.

Still, as a precaution to stem the spread of flu, the Hong Kong government ordered primary schools and kindergartens closed since Thursday, keeping more than half a million students at home. It was the first such public health measure since the outbreak of SARS.

SARS, which stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome, surfaced in southern China in November 2002 before spreading to Hong Kong, where it killed 299 people and sparked a public panic.

Some secondary schools in Hong Kong have also reported suspected flu outbreaks, and four have closed voluntarily as of Friday.

Health Secretary York Chow said in a radio interview Friday the total number of flu cases in February and March was higher than the same period last year. He did not give figures.

Hong Kong is also on guard for bird flu, which killed six people here in 1997.

Scientists also fear the virus that causes it could eventually mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans that some say could kill millions.

Hong Kong occasionally finds wild birds with avian influenza, the latest a peregrine falcon. After several tests, scientists confirmed it contracted the deadly H5N1 strain, the government said in a statement Friday.

The flu cases in Hong Kong have also prompted close monitoring in southern China's Guangdong province, but officials haven't detected more flu cases than usual, Chinese health minister Chen Zhu told reporters in Beijing Friday.

Guangdong's health department said in a statement on its Web site Friday it recorded five flu outbreaks this year across the province, with each outbreak involving at least 15 cases a week.

That figure was "a bit" higher than the same period last year, but the flu virus behind the outbreaks was less virulent, the health department said.

The provincial capital Guangzhou had two outbreaks, while Shenzhen, across the Chinese border from Hong Kong, had one.

Guangdong health officials have also sent experts to Hong Kong to learn more about the situation there, the department said.

Former British colony Hong Kong is now Chinese territory, but it maintains separate political and economic systems from the mainland.

In statistics released late Thursday, Hong Kong officials announced nine new confirmed flu outbreaks and 41 suspected ones, affecting 305 people.

That brings the total since March 6 to 18 confirmed outbreaks, 106 suspected outbreaks and 837 affected people in a city of nearly 7 million. Most of the cases have been confined to schools.

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Associated Press writer Audra Ang contributed to this report from Beijing.