Three new cases of Japanese encephalitis were reported in southern Taiwan last week and the disease has claimed its first victim this year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced yesterday.
The three new cases are a man in his 60s living in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營), a man in his 50s living in Pingtung County’s Nanzhou Township (南州) and a man in his 40s living in Chiayi County’s Lioujiao Township (六腳), CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said.
A total of seven cases have been confirmed this year: four in Kaohsiung and one each in Chiayi City, Chiayi County and Pingtung, he said, adding that in the same period from 2015 to last year, there were between five and 18 cases, most of which involved adults older than 40.
The three new people infected with the disease did not visit other nations recently, but all live or work near paddies, ponds, pig farms or fowl houses, so local health bureaus have sent inspectors to survey and disinfect areas near their homes and workplaces, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.
The fatality was a woman in her 50s who lived in Kaohsiung and was placed in an intensive care unit on May 28, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said.
Japanese encephalitis is a viral infection that is primarily transmitted through bites by three types of mosquitoes — Culex tritaeniorhynchus, Culex annulus and Culex fuscocephala — in Taiwan, he said.
Most people infected with the disease do not exhibit symptoms, but those who do could experience headaches, fever, aseptic meningitis, general malaise, disorientation and unilateral muscular weakness or paralysis, with severe cases ending in death or a coma, he added.
The Central Weather Bureau has forecast that Taiwan will this year experience El Nino, and temperatures in Kaohsiung have risen above their three-decade averages, so the arrival of the rainy season last month was accompanied by an increase in the number of mosquitoes, Chuang said.
Twenty cases of indigenous dengue fever have been reported in Kaohsiung this year and 171 cases that originated in other nations, the CDC said.
The agency urged people to avoid outdoor activity or to use insect repellent and wear protective clothing when going outside during peak mosquito hours — early in the morning and evening — and emphasized that people should avoid going near ponds, farms with livestock and other mosquito breeding areas.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
RSS