The number of hospital visits for enterovirus last week was the highest recorded over the same period in 10 years, and case numbers seem to be increasing, with Taiwan possibly entering an epidemic period next month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
There were 6,084 outpatient and emergency room visits for enterovirus last week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said.
Of the enterovirus strains identified at contracted labs over the past four weeks, the most common is Coxsackievirus A6, accounting for 30.4 percent of all cases, followed by Coxsackievirus A4, he said.
Photo: CNA
Enterovirus is usually seasonal, with cases increasing in March as temperatures rise and peaking before the summer vacation starts in June, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said.
Over the past 10 years, the enterovirus epidemic period — defined as more than 11,000 hospital visits per week — has typically been in May, but as the weekly number exceeded 6,000 last week, the CDC is concerned that it might be earlier this year, he said.
In the past four weeks,180 school classes have been suspended due to enterovirus cases, higher than the 132 classes suspended over the same four weeks last year, he added.
Specialists have also said there is typically a major enterovirus outbreak every four to five years, and as the two previous major outbreaks were in 2012 and 2019, and there were no major outbreaks over the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there might be a risk of a major outbreak this year, Lo said.
While the CDC is warning parents of young children or those working with young children to be cautious, it would also work with the Ministry of Education to improve preventive measures at schools, he said.
Enteroviruses are highly contagious, so children, parents and school staff are advised to frequently wash their hands with soap, as the virus is resistant to alcohol-based disinfectants, CDC physician Lin Leng (林稜) said.
Children who have enterovirus should stay at home and rest, while parents should prevent cross-infection by keeping the home clean and well-ventilated, she said, adding that they should also disinfect with diluted bleach.
In related news, 103,041 hospital visits for flu-like illness were reported last week, Guo said.
Although case number are dropping, 31 serious flu complications and eight flu-related deaths were still reported last week, he said.
There were 408 local COVID-19 cases that required hospitalization last week, down from 523 a week earlier, Guo said, adding that more than 82 percent of local or imported cases were infected with the JN.1 strain.
Lo said the latest COVID-19 outbreak is expected to end by early next month, but a one-year-old boy died from the virus last week, so unvaccinated children aged six or older, as well as high-risk groups, should be vaccinated.
Guo added that there were two imported cases of measles last week, both of whom took the same flight from Malaysia to Taiwan as a previously reported case.
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