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Hong Kong paediatrician, Professor Patrick Ip who spoke on RTHK's Hong Kong on Monday morning (25th of September) programme calling upon parents of little children to arrange vaccination against flu for their kids.
The Professor who is in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Hong Kong said population's immunity against the virus has plummeted during the Covid-19 pandemic and the situation in Hong Kong is presently challenging as there had been two flu peaks this year after the relaxed of infection control measures.
"Perhaps as a results of all those infection control measures earlier, the immunity of our children and our population have been completely different. So now when we are returning to schools, we are actually facing quite a number of outbreaks," Prof. said.
The Professor stressed that the flu cases that have been seen in youngsters lately tended to be more serious.
"We probably realise that in the past, before Covid, usually when children got an influenza infection, it would be relatively mild and with symptoms for roughly around three to four days and most of those admissions to hospitals would only require a short stay, " he said.
"But during the post-Covid period, what we are facing is children with a little bit more severe influenza than before. Many of them need to stay in hospital for a much longer period, maybe up to one week, with more severe symptoms. Sometimes even more complications."
Ip said these complications were particularly worsen among children who had never been vaccinated, leaving them at risk of more severe complications like bronchitis, pneumonia or even encephalopathy affecting their brain.
He explained that the transmision of the influenza started through contact with the droplets, the sneezing and coughing from infected and even direct contacts. He advised that the infected children should be allowed to stay at home or use face mask always while having the flu symptoms. The toys and the classes should be disinfected regularly, he added.
香港兒科醫生呼籲家長在免疫力下降的情況下讓孩子接種疫苗
香港兒科醫生葉柏德教授週一早上（9月25日）在香港電台香港節目中呼籲幼兒家長為孩子安排流感疫苗接種。
香港大學兒科系教授表示，在Covid-19大流行期間，人們對病毒的免疫力大幅下降，而香港目前的情況充滿挑戰，因為今年在放鬆管制後出現了兩次流感高峰。感染控制措施。
葉說：“也許由於之前所有這些感染控制措施，我們的孩子和我們的人口的免疫力已經完全不同。所以現在當我們返回學校時，我們實際上面臨著相當多的疫情爆發。”
教授強調，最近在青少年中發現的流感病例往往更加嚴重。
「我們可能意識到，在過去，在新冠疫情之前，通常當兒童感染流感時，症狀相對較輕，症狀大約持續三到四天，大多數入院只需要短暫停留，」他說。
「但在後疫情時期，我們面臨的是兒童患流感的情況比以前更嚴重。他們中的許多人需要住院更長時間，可能長達一周，症狀也更嚴重。」有時甚至會出現更多並發症。”
葉說，這些併發症在從未接種過疫苗的兒童中尤其嚴重，使他們面臨更嚴重併發症的風險，如支氣管炎、肺炎，甚至影響大腦的腦病變。
他解釋說，流感的傳播是透過接觸飛沫、感染者打噴嚏和咳嗽，甚至直接接觸開始的。 他建議受感染的兒童在出現流感症狀時應留在家中或始終使用口罩。 他補充說，玩具和學校應該定期消毒。
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