A newborn who died last week was the second death from serious enterovirus infection this year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it also warned that the number of people seeking treatment for diarrhea remained high.
Hospitals reported 3,878 visits for enterovirus infection last week, which was relatively low and below the epidemic threshold, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said.
Surveillance data from contracted labs showed that the most common enterovirus detected in the past four weeks was coxsackievirus A16, followed by coxsackievirus A6 and echovirus 11, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control
The less-than-a-month-old baby in northern Taiwan who last week died from severe enterovirus infection with complications had contracted echovirus 11, he said.
CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said the baby was born prematurely and was last month hospitalized for respiratory distress.
His condition worsened earlier this month, with low blood pressure, a slow heartbeat, hepatitis and low platelet count, and tested positive for enterovirus, Lin said.
The boy died of septic shock and multiple organ failure about a week after the onset of symptoms, he said.
Contact tracing found that none of his family members, patients or healthcare workers or other patients and healthcare workers where he was hospitalized was infected with echovirus 11, so the infection source is unknown.
There have been three cases of serious enterovirus infection this year, including two people who died, both of whom were infected with echovirus 11, Guo said.
The enterovirus epidemic in Taiwan typically starts in late April and peaks in June, but few cases of severe infection have been reported, with newborns more susceptible to severe echovirus 11 infection, National Taiwan University Hospital’s Pediatric Infection Disease Division director Lu Chun-yi (呂俊毅) said.
People infected with echovirus 11 do not exhibit common symptoms such as hand-foot-and-mouth disease or herpangina (blister-like sores or ulcers in the mouth), and infected children might only develop mild symptoms such as a fever or rashes, he said.
However, newborns up to three months old infected with echovirus 11 might become severely ill due to acute hepatitis, encephalitis or sepsis, Lu said.
Echovirus 11 is primarily transmitted through the fecal-oral and respiratory routes, so close contact with infected family members, such as older siblings, is a source of infection; another potential source of infection is vertical transmission from mother to child during birth, he said.
Pregnant women and newborns should avoid contact with infected people, Lu said, adding that pregnant women should pay special attention to their health before and after giving birth, while caregivers should practice good respiratory and hand hygiene, Lu said.
Meanwhile, hospitals reported 186,708 visits for diarrhea last week, down 12.7 percent from the previous week, but still the highest for the same week in five years, Guo said.
CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said that weekly visits had declined for four consecutive weeks, and are expected to drop to a low level early next month, but people should continue to practice hand hygiene and food safety.
As for a hot pot restaurant in Yilan County where a cluster of diarrhea cases was reported last week, Tseng said five customers and five food handlers tested positive for norovirus.
The hot pot restaurant chain in Luodong Township (羅東) held a soft opening on March 15, but as of Saturday, 63 customers had reported feeling ill after eating there.
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