Hong Kong government building at centre of killer bug scare

Dec 29, 2011, 5:17 GMT

Hong Kong - The Hong Kong government's new headquarters was at the centre of a health scare Thursday after a potentially fatal bacteria was discovered in the office of a senior official seriously ill with legionnaires' disease.

The bacteria that causes the disease was discovered in a tap in the private washroom of Education Secretary Michael Suen, who is in hospital.

The Centre for Health Protection launched an investigation after the 67-year-old was admitted December 19.

He was later diagnosed with legionnaire's disease, a type of pneumonia. The bacteria that causes it can thrive in warm water in storage tanks and air-conditioning units and is usually found in older buildings. It is fatal in about 10 to 15 per cent of cases.

Tthe Centre for Health Protection said preliminary results had found the bacteria in four water samples taken from the tap in Suen's private bathroom in the east wing of the 5.5-billion-Hong-Kong-dollar (707-million-US-dollar) headquarters at Tamar.

As a precautionary measure, further tests were being carried out throughout the building. The building management has been advised to install water filters in pantries.

The new headquarters, which is to house 3,000 civil servants, opened in September after a last-minute rush to complete the project amid complaints of substandard interior work.