HIV and AIDS

In 2018, there were 624 HIV reports and 139 AIDS report in Hong Kong. A cumulative total of 9,715 reports of HIV infection and 1,996 AIDS cases was identified under the voluntary and anonymous HIV/AIDS reporting system of the Department of Health launched since 1985. In 2018, 1 in every 9,850 new blood donors, 1 in every 264 attendees in Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Clinics, and 1 in every 110 users in methadone clinics were tested HIV positive. Most of the HIV reports were male (85%) and Chinese (72%). Most infected people (78%) were diagnosed at the age between 20 and 49. People infected with HIV progress to AIDS when they suffer from clinical complications of severe immunodeficiency due to HIV. The most common illnesses presenting at AIDS were pneumocystis pneumonia and tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is an important infectious disease in Hong Kong. In 2018, there was a total of 4,326 TB notifications with male to female ratio of 1.7:1 (Centre for Health Protection, 2019, February 4a). It was rare in children under 15 years old but more common among old people. The total number of deaths caused by TB was 179 (132 male and 47 female) (Centre for Health Protection, 2019, February 4b) respectively.

Seasonal influenza

Seasonal influenza is a common respiratory tract infection caused by human seasonal influenza viruses. In Hong Kong, it is more common in periods from January to April and from July to August (Centre for Health Protection, 2020a). Centre for Health Protection has been closely monitoring the weekly numbers of institutional influenza-like illness outbreaks and influenza-associated admission rate in public hospitals (Centre for Health Protection, 2020a). In 2019, there were 24,215 positive detections of seasonal influenza viruses under laboratory surveillance (Centre for Health Protection, 2020c).  In 2018/2019 winter, it caused 5,217 cases of adult ICU admission and 2,942 cases of adult death with laboratory confirmation (Centre for Health Protection, 2020b).

References:

Centre for Health Protection. (2019, February 4a). Notification & death rate of tuberculosis (all forms), 1947-2018. Retrieved from https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/statistics/data/10/26/43/88.html

Centre for Health Protection. (2019, February 4b). Tuberculosis notifications (all forms) and rate by age group and sex, 2018 (Provisional). Retrieved from https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/statistics/data/10/26/43/6825.html

Centre for Health Protection. (2020a). Explanatory notes on the intensity levels for seasonal influenza in Hong Kong. Retrieved from https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/explanatory_note_for_flux_mem_eng.pdf

Centre for Health Protection. (2020b). Flu Express. Retrieved from: https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/xls/flux_data.xlsx

Centre for Health Protection. (2020c). Flu Express-Weekly surveillance data Retrieved from: https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/xls/flux_data.xlsx

Virtual AIDS Office of Hong Kong. (2019, May). HIV/AIDS Situation in Hong Kong [2018]. Hong Kong Retrieved from https://www.aids.gov.hk/english/surveillance/sur_report/hiv_fc2018e.pdf.