A cluster involving four residents at Green Heights Elderly Home on Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, has prompted continued health checks after the Centre for Health Protection found that the care home had not properly implemented infection-prevention and control measures. The cases involved carriage or infection with carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), with the available reports using both descriptions.
The four residents were aged between 73 and 90. i-CABLE News reported that they had no symptoms, although the available information does not clarify whether all four cases were clinically classified in the same way.
The Centre for Health Protection was notified by the Hospital Authority after two residents on the same floor were found to carry CRE while receiving treatment in public hospitals for their own illnesses. They were suspected of having acquired the bacteria at the care home. A subsequent investigation identified two additional cases, bringing the number of residents involved to four.
The Centre for Health Protection has launched an epidemiological investigation, contact tracing and screening. Authorities said screening and medical surveillance at the home would continue.
The route by which the bacteria may have spread within the home has not been confirmed. Star Headline reported that transmission through staff or a contaminated environment had not been ruled out, while i-CABLE News said another carrier on the same floor could have been the source. These remain possibilities rather than established findings.
Screening and medical surveillance will continue at the home. The available reports do not specify which infection-control measures were inadequate or establish the actual source of transmission.