No scientific evidence links the anti-viral drug Tamiflu with delirium and abnormal behavior, despite recent reports of alleged cases in Japan, said Lin Ting (林頂), deputy director-general of the Center for Disease Control.
Lin said that while some flu patients might indeed display disturbed behavior after being treated with Tamiflu, the effects are likely the result of encephalitis associated with the influenza, not the treatment.
According to an AP report, 103 possible cases of psychiatric side-effects in Japan have prompted the US Food and Drug Administration to recommend the addition of a warning message on Tamiflu packaging.
"We keep a large stock of Tamiflu for use against influenza epidemics or a bird flu outbreak," Lin said. "But we do not use it routinely to treat flu patients as they do in Japan."
Describing the use of the anti-flu medicine in Japan as "indiscriminate," Lin said that Tamiflu is currently only administered to those who display flu symptoms and have just traveled from parts of the world where the H5N1 avian influenza virus is endemic.
As for what people can do to stave off the virus, Lin suggested taking advantage of free flu vaccines the government provides for at-risk groups -- those over 65 years old, children between the ages of six months and two years, poultry industry workers and medical care providers.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
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Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
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