Although the death rate among patients with enterovirus (EV) has declined dramatically since 1998, doctors yesterday called for public awareness of the long-term symptoms of serious EV infections in children.
"With our increased understanding of EV, the death rate among serious EV cases has decreased from 85 percent in 1998 to 30 percent last year," said Lin Tsou-yian (
"Although most of the patients suffering from serious EV can be saved, the long-term symptoms of EV in children often cause social problems."
Lin made the statements at a press conference yesterday organized by CGMH, Taipei. Three children who are suffering long-term symptoms of the disease attended the press conference with their parents.
EV is a disease to which children, especially those under five years old, are particularly vulnerable and is transmitted through the respiratory ingestion of contaminated matter. It starts with flu-like symptoms but patients eventually develop blisters on their mouths, limbs and hands.
Serious EV involves additional complications such as heart and lung failure, encephalitis and pulmonary edema -- and it only strikes children.
Most former sufferers of serious EV experience symptoms of varying degrees of seriousness, from limb weakness to paralysis. About half of these patients lose the ability to swallow, cough, and even breathe unaided, according to Hsia Shau-shiuan (夏紹軒), head of the children's intensive care unit at CGCH.
Hsia said that, of all the sufferers of serious EV that had been treated at CGCH, about 20 rely on long-term respiratory care and he estimated that there are between 20 and 30 similar patients around the nation.
Hsia said that these children face the prospect of being unable to receive a full education -- and their condition places a tremendous financial burden on their families.
Hsia said that, regardless of whether parents choose to send their children to long-term respiratory care centers or take care of them at home, medical and rehabilitation costs run between NT$20,000 to NT$40,000 per month for each family.
"We [the hospital] believe such long-term respiratory care programs should be covered by social or children's welfare. But if parents decide to take their children home for long-term care, National Health Insurance should cover the cost of renting all the requisite medical equipment," Hsia said.
"We really want to take our son back home so the family can live together. But we can't, not only because we are not medical experts, but also because we can't afford to install the necessary medical equipment at home," said Wu, the mother of two-year-old boy, Wu Tsung-yeh (
Wu Tsung-yeh has been hospitalized since he was diagnosed with EV when he was four months old. He is now suffering some of the aftereffects of the condition and has to relies on a mobile respirator and constant rehabilitation to keep breathing.
During a major EV outbreak in the summer of 1998, EV 71 -- one of the most dangerous strains of the virus -- caused 78 deaths.
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