A famous Chinese saying is "Change is originally eternal,
but all changes cannot deviate from a central principle" . This is
particularly applicable to the field of emerging
and reemerging infections . Influenza, tuberculosis,
penicilliosis and melioidosis are diseases which are either prevalent or
unique to our locality and are excellent examples illustrating this age
old saying.
Southern China is one of the most densely populated area
of the world where person-to-person and human to animal contacts are
extremely intense. In the coming years, the competition for ecological
space and the exhaustion of the environm ental resources would further
aggravate. Hong Kong, being a city with relatively modern infrastructure
including medical services and research capability, is an ideal place
for the study of emerging and reemerging pathogenic microbes. Yersinia
pestis and Influenza virus are two important historical witness to
this strategy.
My area of research in infectious diseases and clinical
microbiology which constitutes one of the most important aspect of
healthcare will continue to pre-occupy public interest. In my 12 years
service, I have been instrumental in developing this discipline in Hong
Kong, expanding its scope from one which was mainly concerned with the
traditional port health aspects to one which embraces all infectious
diseases afflicting our society to-day. In the early stage of my
endeavor, I undertook to modernize our diagnostic laboratories, initiate
an infectious diseases consultation service and conduct regular training
of clinical microbiologists and Infectious diseases physicians. I then
capitalize on these infrastructure and personnel resources, once they
are in place, and make use of them to its best advantage to advance
undergraduate, postgraduate education, professional training and above
all research. The impact of these combined has put Hong Kong and our
University in the world map and gain for it much coveted international
recognition.
The following will deal with the various impact of my effort in turn.
RESEARCH
In my twelve years' service in the University, I have
generated a total of 203 publications in journals, books, and conference
proceedings. The total number of citations is 214 (Journal Citation
Report 1996). The mean impact factor of these journal articles is 2.379.
In the area of emerging pathogens, we are invited by the CDC as a
collaborating centre for researches in a new fungal disease
penicilliosis marneffei (Appendix I). We discovered the first gene
encoding an immunogenic prot ein of this organism for which we have
filed a patent right in the USA. We are also the first group in the
world to report a clinical study in the Lancet on the emergence of bird
flu H5N1 in Hong Kong in 1997.
Appendix I
Penicilliosis
marneffei is an emerging infection in AIDS patients of Hong Kong
and Southeast Asia. Together with this paper, I have generated a total
of 10 publications on this topic. Our group has been able to file a
patent right in the USA on a new gene that we discovered.
References in the full list of publications:
1. Lau GKK, Kumana C, Chau PY, Yuen KY, et al. Disseminated Penicillium
marneffei infection responding to treatment with fluconazole.
Journal of the Hong Kong Medical Association 1992;44(3):176-80.
2. Yuen KY*, Wong SS, Tsang DN, Chau PY. Serodiagnosis of Penicillium
marneffei infection. Lancet 1994;344(8920):444-5.
3. Lo CY, Chan TM, Li FK, Yuen KY, Cheng IKP. Penicillium marneffei
infection in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosis. Lupus
1995;4:18-20.
4. Kwan EY, Lau YL, Yuen KY, Jones BM, Low LC. Penicillium marneffei
infection in a non-HIV infected child. Journal of Paediatrics and Child
Health. 1997;33(3):267-71.
5. Cao L, Chan CM, Lee C, Wong SSY, Yuen KY. MP1 encodes an abundant and
highly antigenic cell wall mannoprotein in the pathogenic fungus Penicillium
marneffei. Infection and Immunity 1998;66(3):966-973.
6. Cao L, Chen DL, Lee C, Chan CM, Chan KM, Vanittanakom N, Tsang DN, Yuen
KY. Detection of specific antibodies to an antigenic mannoprotein for
diagnosis of Penicillium marneffei penicilliosis. Journal of
Clinical Microbiology 1998;36(10):3028-3 1.
7. Wong SSY, Cao L, Yuen KY*. Management of penicilliosis marneffei. JAMA
Southeast Asia 1998;14(6):7-9.
8. Peiris M, Yuen KY*, Leung CW, Chan KH, Ip PL, Lai RW, Orr WK,
Shortridge KF. Human infection with influenza H9N2. Lancet 1999 Sep
11;354(9182):916-7.
9. Wong SSY, Siau H, Yuen KY*. Penicilliosis marneffei - west meets east.
Journal of Medical Microbiology. 1999;48:973-975.
10. Cao L, Chan KM, Chen DL, Vanittanakom N, Lee C, Chan CM, Sirisanthana
T, Tsang DNC, Yuen KY. Detection of a cell wall mannoprotein Mp1p in
culture supernatant of Penicillium marneffei and in sera of
penicilliosis patients. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 1999;37:981-6.
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