This year’s first cluster of dengue fever cases in northern Taiwan was detected in New Taipei City, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported yesterday, adding that the number of enterovirus cases continued to increase, with the epidemic period likely to extend into November.
CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said six cases of locally acquired dengue fever were reported from last week to yesterday, including five in New Taipei City and one in Hualien County, and the people began having symptoms between Sept. 13 and Friday last week.
The agency through contact tracing discovered that the cases all live or had recently been near the area where New Taipei City’s Jhonghe (中和) and Sindian (新店) districts meet, he said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
They were also found to be infected with dengue virus serotype 2 (DENV-2), and the Hualien case and three cases in New Taipei City have the same viral genome sequence, so they are considered to belong to the same cluster, he said.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said the two cases confirmed yesterday had showed unusual symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting.
Physicians and people in the area should be aware that aside from common symptoms of headache and fever or pain behind the eyes, infected people might also have gastrointestinal symptoms, he said.
The New Taipei City Government yesterday closed the hiking trails near Sanjie Temple (三介廟) and Tianshan Park (天山公園) for a month, after finding out that two of the cases had been in the area during the incubation period, Lo said.
The local government has begun a large-scale disinfection operation, and the cluster would be monitored until Oct. 21, he said.
Lo urged people who have recently visited nearby areas and show suspected dengue symptoms to seek medical attention as soon as possible and tell their doctor about their visit to the area.
Meanwhile, Guo said 16,253 hospital visits for enterovirus infection were reported last week, another week of increase.
The CDC’s monitoring data showed that coxsackievirus A10 and coxsackievirus A16 were the two main viral strains circulating in the past four weeks, he said.
A mild case of enterovirus D68, a four-month-old infant, was reported and he recovered, Guo added.
There were 146,558 hospital visits for diarrhea reported last week, also an increase, he said.
“After the Mid-Autumn Festival, hospital visits for diarrhea and enterovirus infection have continued to increase, and we expect the trend to continue this week, likely reaching a peak in early next month,” Lo said.
The recent enterovirus outbreak appeared to be more complicated than initially thought, he said, adding that the two Coxsackievirus strains are competing for dominance.
Cases are likely to increase until the middle of next month, reaching a peak of about 17,000 hospital visits per week, he said.
The number of weekly cases is likely to drop below the epidemic threshold (11,000 hospital visits per week) in mid-to-late November, he added.
There are no vaccines for enterovirus strains other than the enterovirus A71 vaccine, so children and caregivers should especially maintain good personal hygiene, and children’s learning environments and homes should have good ventilation and routine disinfections, it said.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
‘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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS