Two workers at HK slaughterhouse are revealed as victims of pneumonia
Two new pneumonia cases, with both victims from the Sheung Shui slaughterhouse, were revealed yesterday as health officials are battling to have a postmortem examination carried out on a Hong Kong pig farmer to establish if his death was related to two others.
A 61-year-old slaughterhouse worker was admitted to North District Hospital yesterday and was in a stable condition.
A 42-year-old safety supervisor at the same slaughterhouse was admitted to hospital for pneumonia in mid-September and had been discharged early last month. The man, who had no direct contact with pigs, has recovered. The second case was among seven reported on the government hotline, 2125 1133, set up on Thursday so pig farmers can report if they had contracted pneumonia in the past six months.
The Centre for Health Protection is still investigating the cause of death of the three earlier cases, two from Hong Kong and one from Guangdong.
A 44-year-old pig farmer, surnamed Sin, died from pneumonia this month, as did another farmer, surnamed Yip, 62, in June. They visited the mainland before their deaths - Sin went to Dongguan and Yip visited Shenzhen.
A pig farmer from Nanhai in Foshan , Guangdong, also died from pneumonia on Tuesday. Both Sin and the mainland farmer tested negative for Sars and bird flu.
