Mpox is spreading in Taiwan, as its effective reproductive number (Rt) is about 1.1, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said, adding that the CDC aims to have vaccinated about 30,000 people against mpox by the middle of next month.
Since mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, was listed as a Category 2 notifiable communicable disease on June 23 last year, a total of 52 cases had been reported in Taiwan as of Wednesday, CDC data showed.
That includes 43 local cases and nine imported cases — all men who were unvaccinated against the disease.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
In an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) published on Friday, Chuang said the mpox Rt value, or the average number of new infections caused by an infected individual, is about 1.1, lower than the 2.7 recorded earlier this month.
“Of course, new cases will continue to increase, but we expect the number to slow down as vaccines are administered,” he said.
Preventing the spread of mpox can be hard because the incubation period can be as long as 21 days.
The virus is mainly transmitted through sexual activity, and early symptoms can be unclear and misdiagnosed, Chuang said.
Symptoms in infected people often begin with a fever, then swollen lymph nodes, followed by skin lesions after one to three days, he said.
Lesions can present as rashes, sores or blisters, and sometimes occur in the genital and anal areas, he added.
“If people experience similar symptoms, they should immediately seek medical attention, and tell the doctor if they have visited other countries or if they have recently engaged in high-risk activities,” Chuang said.
Mpox can easily be mistaken for other diseases, such as chickenpox or measles, so people are advised to be honest with doctors about their symptoms and recent activities, he added.
The CDC is promoting mpox prevention on common social media platforms, as well as dating apps, encouraging people who are at high risk, such those who have had multiple sexual partners, have been to venues that allow sex on their premises or are sex workers, to get a pre-exposure prophylaxis vaccine for mpox, he said.
Chuang said that 30,000 people have registered online for the second round of mpox vaccinations, which the CDC aims to have administered by the middle of next month, hopefully creating a certain level of protection within Taiwan.
A batch of vaccines for about 60,000 people is expected to be imported in the middle of next month, he added.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS