CHP investigates case of mad honey poisoning
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health is today (November 6) investigating a case of mad honey poisoning, and reminded the public to buy honey from a reliable source or apiary.
A 44-year-old female developed bradycardia, hypotension and dizziness around 30 minutes after consuming honey on October 31. She attended the Accident and Emergency Department of Queen Mary Hospital and was admitted for treatment. The patient was in stable condition and discharged on November 1. Her clinical diagnosis was mad honey poisoning.
Grayanotoxin was detected in the honey remnant and the patient's urine sample upon testing.
Initial enquiries revealed that the patient brought the honey from Nepal to Hong Kong. The CHP's investigations are ongoing.
"Mad honey poisoning is caused by ingestion of honey containing grayanotoxins derived from plants belonging to the Ericaceae family, including rhododendrons. Grayanotoxins are neurotoxins which can affect nerves and muscles. Symptoms of poisoning include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness, weakness, excessive perspiration, hypersalivation and paraesthesia shortly after ingestion. In severe cases, hypotension, bradycardia or shock may occur," a spokesman for the CHP explained.
Members of the public are reminded to take heed of the following preventive advice:
Buy honey from a reliable source or apiary;
Discard honey with a bitter or astringent taste - grayanotoxin-containing honey may cause a burning sensation in the throat; and
Pay special attention to honey from India, Nepal and the Black Sea region of Türkiye as there have been grayanotoxin poisoning cases connected with honey from these areas.
Meeting attendance of members of District Councils in 2024
The Home Affairs Department (HAD) made the following clarifications today (January 2) regarding certain media reports on the meeting attendance of the current-term members of the District Councils (DCs) in 2024:
(1) The current-term DC members were diligent in their work, with over 98 per cent of 470 members having attended all DC meetings or were only absent with the DC's consent; over 90 per cent having attended all committee/working group meetings or were only absent with the DC's consent. Aside from attending DC meetings, each DC member on average attended 28 committee/working group meetings;
(2) all DC members fulfilled the requirement under the Performance Monitoring Guidelines for Members of the DCs (the Guidelines), i.e. attendance rate of not lower than 80 per cent and no DC members were in violation of the requirement; certain reports were incorrect in stating that some DC members were in violation of the Guidelines due to their absence at meetings since absence at an individual meeting was not a violation in itself; and
(3) for the purpose of calculating attendance, the Guidelines stipulate certain reasons for absence that would be consented by the DCs, including sickness and attendance at another meeting or an activity on behalf of the DCs etc. If a DC member were absent from meetings due to the aforementioned reasons with the DC's consent, the absence would not affect his/her attendance rate. If a DC member were absent from meetings due to other reasons (i.e. personal matters), the absence would be counted towards his/her attendance rate.
The HAD hoped that media outlets and members of the public would have an accurate understanding of DC members' attendance situation at meetings. The current-term DC members' attendance rate at meetings was the highest amongst all previous terms, which fully demonstrated DC members' efforts and work in improving governance at the district level.
