The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday announced this year’s first clustered outbreak of bacillary dysentery — a serious and highly contagious bacterial infection of the colon — brought to the nation by a man who visited Bali, Indonesia.
The man, who lives in northern Taiwan and is in his 30s, was part of a group tour with 18 others that visited Bali earlier this month, CDC physician Huang Wan-ting (黃婉婷) said, adding that the man was diagnosed with bacillary dysentery after seeking treatment for a fever, diarrhea and nausea, which began one day after he returned home.
Health officials found that another member of the group, a woman in her 20s, also had nausea and diarrhea and was later diagnosed with the disease.
The two were quoted by the agency as saying that they ate mostly well-cooked food during the trip, but ate seafood at a restaurant that appeared to have poor sanitary conditions.
The centers determined the case to be a clustered outbreak and collected samples from 13 other members of the group.
As of Sunday, a total of 120 bacillary dysentery cases have been reported this year, including 44 travelers, with Indonesia being the largest source of infections at 39, CDC statistics showed.
The disease has an incubation period of 12 to 96 hours, but it can take as much as a week for symptoms to develop, Huang said, adding that the bacteria often spreads through food or water contaminated by infected human feces, flying insects, or cutting board cross contamination.
People most often get infected by eating contaminated food or water, usually in nations with unsafe water or inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said, adding that people should avoid drinking iced beverages in such areas, as the ice could be made from unclean groundwater.
Symptoms of bacillary dysentery include diarrhea, fever, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, rectal tenesmus (a sensation of being unable to empty the bowels) and blood or mucus in feces, Huang said, but added that some infected people do not exhibit symptoms.
The agency urged people to be especially cautious about food hygiene when traveling abroad, try to eat only well-cooked food, avoid beverages or iced desserts that are not properly packaged, frequently wash their hands and maintain good personal hygiene at all times.
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