Guangdong authorities are taking measures to guard against infectious respiratory diseases after a virus killed a child and affected more than 30 others in a Hong Kong hospital last week.

The provincial health department has urged hospitals to step up monitoring fever patients and take precautions against the possible outbreak of respiratory diseases.

Schools, kindergartens and wildlife markets have also been asked to keep vigilant.

Hong Kong's health experts identified a mystery illness that has infected 34 children in a Hong Kong hospital as a common respiratory virus. The territory's Health Department said the illness was caused by a para-influenza virus, the second most common cause of acute respiratory illness in children.

Infectious respiratory diseases are more likely to strike in winter and spring. Guangdong experts advise residents to keep warm, take more nutritious foods, do more exercise and keep rooms ventilated.

Some experts say walking for about 30 to 45 minutes a day helps enhance the human body's immune system.

Health experts have also warned of the possibility of a reappearance of SARS but said new SARS cases, if any, would be unlikely to develop into a full-blown outbreak as the province was much better prepared.

(Shenzhen Daily November 23, 2004)