The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Tuesday announced the nation’s first death from mpox in an unvaccinated man from northern Taiwan who had undiagnosed AIDS.
The man in his 30s began developing skin ulcers in August, but waited until Sept. 11 to seek treatment, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said.
By that time his immune response had already weakened severely and his entire body was covered in infected lesions, Lin said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
Testing revealed that the man also had AIDS, which had previously gone undiagnosed, he said.
Despite receiving antiviral therapy and multiple surgeries, his immune response continued to weaken, Lin said, adding that his condition deteriorated on Oct. 22 before he passed away on Wednesday last week.
To date, 355 cases of mpox have been diagnosed in Taiwan, 338 of which were domestically transmitted and 17 imported, CDC data showed.
Of them, 343 have fully recovered, while 12 are convalescing at home.
A total of 108,860 mpox vaccines have been administered, with 39,558 people having received two doses and 29,744 having received one dose, data showed.
Vaccines are still available at 155 medical institutions nationwide, the CDC said, encouraging those at risk who remain unvaccinated to make an appointment.
The international mpox outbreak has continued, with the western Pacific and Southeast Asia seeing spikes starting from July, the CDC said.
There have also been signs of a resurgence in Europe starting in September, and cases continue to steadily climb in the Americas, it added.
Although most cases are mild, those with pre-existing conditions run the risk of developing severe symptoms such as sepsis and encephalitis that could lead to death, the CDC said.
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
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