The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday announced the nation’s first case of superbug NDM-1, but said quarantine would not be necessary, a decision that was strongly criticized by the former director of the agency.
Describing the Taiwanese man as a healthy, asymptomatic carrier, the CDC said the patient was recovering well and quarantine would not be required.
CDC Deputy Director-General Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said the man was one of two Taiwanese wounded in New Delhi on Sept. 19, while working as part of a camera crew on a food documentary for a show on cable channel TVBS.
In the incident, two attackers on a motorbike opened fire outside New Delhi’s main mosque, shooting at a minibus hired by the crew.
CDC officials said the bacteria were found in the form of colonization in the patient’s intestinal tract, which meant that it was not a -category-four communicable disease. Although the man carries the bacteria, he shows no symptoms of the disease, nor does he need to be quarantined, officials said.
The victim’s anal swabs tested positive for the bacteria, but the superbug was not found in samples taken from his urine or gunshot wound, Shih said.
Shih said the infection was most likely a result of receiving surgery and medical treatment in the hospital in India, rather than an indigenous case. The NDM-1 superbug has not been found in the man’s travel companions.
The man, who was hospitalized at Taipei Veterans General Hospital on Monday last week, has now returned home.
CDC officials will follow up with check-ups on the man’s condition every week.
“The patient is recovering well [from the gunshot] and his daily activities are not affected,” Shih said. “Those living in his community need not worry about being infected by the bacteria.”
The CDC said it was still important to maintain good hygiene habits, and added that it had informed the WHO of this case.
The new strain of bacteria, named New Delhi metallo-beta--lactamase-1, is resistant to all known antibiotics and was listed as a category-four communicable disease by the Department of Health last month, meaning that hospitals and clinics must immediately report any suspected cases.
As NDM-1 is not an airborne disease, patients diagnosed with the bug do not need to be quarantined or kept in isolated hospital wards, though doctors must inform the health authorities about the cases, Shih said.
Doctors should notify the CDC or its local branches within 24 hours of seeing a patient who has received invasive surgery, has traveled abroad — to India and Pakistan in particular — over the past six months and whose samples show resistance to Carbapenem antibiotics.
Meanwhile, former CDC director Su Ih-jen (蘇益仁), who is now deputy superintendent at National Cheng Kung University Hospital, said the situation was serious and should have been dealt with differently.
The fact that the patient failed to exhibit any symptoms of infection such as diarrhea, indicating that the bacteria was non-toxic, was secondary to the potential for the drug-resistance of the introduced bacteria to be passed on to native bacteria in Taiwan, he said.
Su said that if the drug-resistant bacteria were present in sufficient quantities in the excreta of the patient, the resistant gene could be replicated in native bacteria such as intestinal bacteria. Native bacterial pathogens might then develop drug-resistance. If members of the public became infected by these, it would cause severe problems, as the resulting illnesses would be difficult to treat, he said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS