The Chengkungling (成功嶺) army base in Taichung County yesterday raised the alarm against the spread of meningococcal meningitis yesterday after one soldier died from the disease last week and another 24 others are suspected to have the infection.
A young woman in a neighboring county was also confirmed to have died from the disease in May.
The soldier who died last week, Chio Chioh-chiao (邱界橋), fell ill Thursday and was rushed to Chung Shan Medical College Hospital that evening. Chio was transferred to the China Medical College Hospital and officially certified as dead the following morning after emergency treatment failed to save him. The hospital then reported the death to the Taichung County health department.
The department conducted health checks on Monday morning on members of the battalion in which Chio served. They identified 24 soldiers as having had close contact with Chio and therefore being at risk to infection. The 24 have been hospitalized and are being held in isolation from other patients.
As an extra precaution, the department has also prescribed the drug Rifampin to all of the battalion's 638 soldiers. Rifampin can destroy the bacteria that cause the disease, if the patient takes it for two days.
"Since we have found 24 possible cases in the battalion, we decided to prescribe medicine to all the soldiers to prevent a spread [of the disease], even though most of them don't show any symptoms," said Yeh Yen-po (葉彥伯), deputy director of Taichung's health department.
According to Liu Yi-sheng (
About two weeks ago, the disease killed a female resident of Changhua County. Since the woman's boyfriend is also a soldier, a link has been suspected between the two cases. But the deputy director-general of the Center for Disease Control, Chiang Ying-lung (江英隆), denied any connection between the two cases on the grounds that the two incidents were not near each other and that different variants of the disease were responsible in each case.
"As far as I know, the girl's boyfriend is serving in Nantou, not at Changkungling. Moreover, the girl was killed by type Y of the disease whereas the soldier was infected by type B," Chiang said.
Meningococcal meningitis is an infection of the fluid of the spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain. It occurs in five different types, or "serogroups" termed A, B, C, Y and W135. The disease is usually caused by a viral or bacterial infection and more commonly occurs in the spring and winter.
The main symptoms of the disease include high fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, and vomiting. Children under five years old, young adults, and adults living in confined spaces such as crowded military barracks are particularly susceptible to the disease.
The bacteria are spread through the exchange of respiratory and throat secretions such as that which occurs during kissing or coughing.
"The bacteria doesn't spread as easily as the flu virus," said deputy director Yie.
The Center for Disease Control under the Department of Health established a committee to discuss a prophylaxis yesterday. One member of the committee, Dr Lee Ching-yun (
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