In a bid to prevent further public alarm, the Center for Disease Control (CDC,
The CDC has established four committees to review cases of suspected hantavirus infections. Only after discussion by the regional committee may doctors in charge of the suspected case reveal information to the media.
The CDC's notice, sent to doctors' professional associations, requests doctors not to talk to the media until their suspected cases have been reviewed by the local committees established by the CDC. The committees are made up of experts in each region.
The four committees cover northern, eastern, southern and central Taiwan.
Regulations were also attached to the CDC's notice.
The regulations state that doctors can be fined NT$90,000 to NT$450,000 if they reveal cases to the public which have not first been reported to and confirmed by the CDC.
The CDC said it wants to fully monitor any spread of hantavirus in Taiwan and is therefore asking doctors or members of the public who have detected symptoms similar to hantavirus infection to report cases to the CDC.
"Many cases suspected by doctors or local residents have been reported. But their suspicions were based merely on symptoms," said Hsu Kuo-hsiung (
Symptoms of flu and hantavirus infection can be very similar, experts said.
"Constant reporting by the media of cases that have not been subject to laboratory tests have provoked unreasonable panic," said Hsu.
Hsu was dismissive of media speculation that the hantavirus might have been unleashed by China as a means of controlling Taiwan by germ warfare. "Using a virus that can only be transmitted through contact with contaminated feces, urine or saliva ... is totally inefficient," he said.
Amid widespread alarm about the virus, some have raised the issue of whether a hantavirus vaccine should be imported. The CDC, however, regards such a suggestion as "reckless." Hsu said the vaccine is only for certain serotypes of hantavirus. Its effectiveness, moreover, is still under observation.
The vaccine was developed in Korea in 1995. Currently it is only used for groups at high risk of hantavirus infection, such as farmers and researchers involved in laboratory experiments, Hsu said.
The CDC said that it had found reported cases whose symptoms bore no resemblance to those of hantavirus. Officials said some doctors reported cases to the CDC because other hospitals had already discovered possible infected cases. "Hospitals might have done so out of competition with each other, but that would mislead and panic the public."
A Hualien couple has been confirmed as having died from hantavirus infection last month. Preliminary lab tests also indicate strong grounds for suspicion that a female in the same area has contracted the virus. Further analysis is under way in that case. The patient, however, is in stable condition and ready to leave the hospital.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique