An Australian exchange student was diagnosed with superwarfarin poisoning, the Taipei Medical University Hospital (TMUH) said yesterday.
The student was in a stable condition and was being treated in a regular ward, it said.
ABC News Australia on Friday reported that Alex Shorey, a 24-year-old exchange student at Tamkang University in Taipei, was fighting for his life after ingesting rat poison.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
The report cited his aunt Elizabeth Shorey-Kitson as saying that it remained unclear how he ingested the poison, but his family suspected that it was from contaminated street food.
Shorey had been in the hospital since Tuesday last week, it said.
The public broadcaster’s overseas service quoted his brother as saying that when Shorey went to a doctor in Taiwan, “they just essentially thought it was an infection or he had received damage to his arteries. But over the next few days, Alex got worse. He was nauseous and blood started appearing in his urine. My dad thought that’s not normal, and it seemed quite worrying.”
The hospital yesterday issued a statement saying that the student sought treatment for nausea, vomiting, nose bleeding and bloody urine, adding that he also has a coagulation disorder.
A doctor at the hospital initially prescribed vitamin K1 therapy, and tests later confirmed that he had been poisoned with superwarfarin, a vitamin K antagonist used in rat poison, it said.
Shorey developed symptoms indicating an allergic reaction to the treatment and he was transferred to an intensive care unit, the hospital said.
He was on Friday moved back to a general ward after his treatment plan was adjusted, it added.
The hospital said that its doctors had asked the student what he had eaten before the symptoms appeared, and there is no reason to believe that he ingested the poison through street food.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
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
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS