A doctor has urged people to beware of tick bites when traveling abroad after finding a tick on a woman who had recently traveled to Japan.
The woman, who had traveled to Japan’s Tohoku region, experienced pain in one of her shoulders for 10 days after returning to Taiwan and sought medical help, online news site the Apple Daily reported on Sunday.
Lin Kung-kai (林工凱), a doctor at a dermatology clinic in Kaohsiung who treated the woman, was quoted as saying that he found a lump with fine black threads on the woman’s shoulder.
Photo: Hsu Li-chuan, Taipei Times
Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was a tick stuck under her skin with its legs left outside.
He removed the insect with a pair of tweezers and prescribed antibiotics to the woman, and asked her to return for follow-up examinations.
Lin said ticks are arthropods that are commonly found in the wilderness and are most active from April to October.
People might pick up ticks as they walk through grassland or forests, he said.
Lin also urged caution against Lyme disease, which is spread by infected ticks.
Symptoms of Lyme disease include a red expanding rash, fever and fatigue within three to 30 days of having been bitten by a tick, he said, adding that delayed treatment could lead to serious complications.
Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected ticks, the Centers for Disease Control said.
However, the pathogen is not transmissible between humans, it said.
Lyme disease caused by tick bites usually affects mammals, including humans, rodents, dogs, cats, cows, horses and deer, it added.
Lin said people who are traveling to wooded or grassy places in areas where Lyme disease is endemic should avoid sitting on the ground for too long; wear protective clothing such as long sleeves, gloves and boots; and use insect repellents containing DEET or picaridin, to prevent tick bites.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS