# 5699
While new scarlet fever cases continue to show up in Hong Kong (and presumably in mainland China, where surveillance numbers are vague at best), the rate of new cases has dropped markedly over the past 3 weeks.
Less than a month ago, it wasn’t unusual to see 25 to 30 new cases every 24 hours (see Hong Kong: Scarlet Fever Update).
The latest surveillance report from the Centre for Health Protection shows just 28 cases have been detected over the past 72 hours.
Most public schools in Hong Kong closed at the end of June for their 6-week summer vacation break, after which we began to see a gradual reduction in new cases.
Schools are currently scheduled to reopen the 3rd week of August. Earlier this month Dr. York Chow – in a media interview – indicated that this outbreak might persist into September.
While several strains of Group A Streptococcus (GAS) have been found to be circulating in Hong Kong, two mutated strains have been identified that show signs of increased resistance to erythromycin and clindamycin, long considered the standard treatment for the illness.
Fortunately, they remain susceptible to penicillin and some newer drugs of last resort.
According to Kwok-yung Yuen - head of Hong Kong University's microbiology department - the more dominant of the two strains has undergone a genetic mutation that appears to make it more contagious as well.
