Taiwan is adjacent to an area with a high risk of rabies contraction and people who are bitten by dogs with rabies, or have wounds that come into contact with the saliva of dogs with rabies, have a high risk of being infected, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Shih Wen-yih (施文儀) said yesterday.
Shih said a Taiwanese businessman was bitten by a dog in Wuhan in China’s Hebei Province in June and did not seek medical treatment.
By July 16, the businessman began to feel numbness, prickling and itchiness on the soles of his feet, as well as having a sense of discomfort in his lower body, Shih said, adding that by July 20 he was unable to drink any water, was constantly vomiting, had difficulty swallowing and had a swollen throat.
The businessman was sent back to Taiwan on July 23 for emergency treatment, but he is still in hospital after a month, Shih said.
According to Shih’s research, the first case of rabies in Taiwan occurred in 1947, when a rabid dog tore a man’s pant legs. His wife mended the pants and placed the needle and thread in her mouth to wet the thread. It was possible that his wife already had a wound in her mouth, or the needle pierced the flesh and infected the wife with the disease, which is nearly 100 percent fatal to humans.
Though Taiwan itself is a rabies-free zone, it is constantly threatened by the disease because the nation is close to China, a high-risk rabies infection area, Shih said.
There are about 2,000 cases of rabies infection in China every year, and the presence of fake vaccines on the market and smuggled pets also poses a great problem there, Shih said.
Shih also said that India has a far higher number of infected patients, amounting to 20,000 per year, and Bali Island — a hotspot for Taiwanese tourists — has had hundreds of cases of infection since 2008.
Shih listed five steps the public should take to prevent infection: Get vaccinated with the three vaccines for rabies, in the correct order, when visiting areas with rabies; avoid being scratched or bitten by cats, dogs, monkeys, bats and the like; when bitten by animals suspected to have rabies, wash the wound for 15 minutes with large amounts of soap and water, then sterilize it with 70 percent alcohol; and if scratched or wounded, immediately visit the hospital to be given antibodies to neutralize the virus, then be vaccinated — in the right order — with another five doses of the rabies vaccine.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
RSS