The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday confirmed five new measles cases associated with a cluster outbreak in Taipei, saying that 1,981 people who had come into direct contact with the patients would be monitored for symptoms until Sept. 6.
The cases are likely associated with a man in his 30s living in northern Taiwan, who was infected with measles in Vietnam, returned home on July 29, transmitted the disease to his flatmate, and was confirmed to have measles on Wednesday, the centers said.
One of the five cases confirmed yesterday is a man in his 30s, who was on the same flight with the index case on July 29, and was in Vietnam from Aug. 5 to Wednesday, so he might have been infected by the index case or by other people in Vietnam, it added.
Photo: CNA
The other four patients are nurses who work at Cathay General Hospital’s emergency room who had come into contact with the index case, the CDC said.
The nurses started experiencing symptoms between Friday last week and Thursday this week, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said, adding that one of them was vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) in 2013 and two were vaccinated last year, but the other has not been vaccinated.
The hospital on Friday held an emergency response meeting to discuss prevention measures and asked the medical practitioners who have had direct contact with the index case to have their measles antibody levels measured and receive an MMR vaccine if no antibodies are found, hospital deputy superintendent Lee Chia-long (李嘉龍) said.
The hospital also asked medical practitioners with higher antibody levels to help screen patients with a fever, control the personnel who are allowed to enter the emergency room, take disinfection measures and put up posters to warn people about clustered measles cases, he said.
One hundred and nineteen measles cases have been confirmed this year — 72 domestic cases, among whom 51 had come into contact with confirmed cases, and 47 imported — the CDC said.
Measles is a highly contagious disease that can spread through coughing and sneezing, and it is most contagious in the four days before and after the onset of rashes, the centers said.
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said it plans to revise the export control list for strategic high-tech products by adding 18 items under three categories — advanced 3D printing equipment, advanced semiconductor equipment and quantum computers — which would require local manufacturers to obtain licenses for their export. The ministry’s announcement yesterday came as the International Trade Administration issued a 60-day preview period for planned revisions to the Export Control List for Dual Use Items and Technology (軍商兩用貨品及技術出口管制清單) and the Common Military List (一般軍用貨品清單), which fall under regulations governing export destinations for strategic high-tech commodities and specific strategic high-tech commodities. The
RSS