The central government's Center for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported that a male chicken butcher in Taipei City may have been infected with Hantavirus, an acute contagious viral hemorrhagic fever.
The CDC said a second stage of blood tests is needed to determine the type of the disease.
The Taipei City Bureau of Health reported to the CDC on Friday that a man working as a chicken butcher in the Huan-nan traditional market in Taipei City was suspected of being infected with the Hantavirus, as the initial blood test showed positive results.
The man, in his early 20s, is a Taipei County resident and works in the Huan-nan traditional market in Taipei City's old Wan-hua district, according to the bureau.
Traditional markets are usually associated with poor sanitary conditions.
Hantavirus, a distant cousin to Ebola, is a highly infectious disease usually associated with rats.
The virus is not passed from person-to-person but can be picked up by inhaling tiny particles of rodent feces.
Symptoms of the disease include fevers which can last for 3 to 8 days, back pains, headache, stomach aches, vomiting and weakness. The virus can lead to hemorrhaging in the eyes, skin, larynx and soft plate after 3 to 6 days of infection.
A section chief of the city's Bureau of Health Chang Chao-ching (張朝卿) said yesterday that the man's situation has stabilized since receiving treatment in a hospital. He declined to name the hospital where the man was admitted.
Director of the CDC Chen Tsai-ching (陳再晉) said the man is expected to be released from the hospital tomorrow and a second blood test will be conducted. The result of the blood test will be released as early as Tuesday, Chen said.
"People who come into proximity with rats are more likely to get the Hantavirus," Chen said yesterday.
He cautioned the public to wash away rat urine or excrement with bleach and wait until 3 to 4 hours to clean the excrement with a vacuum cleaner. The screening net of the vacuum machine must be discarded immediately.
"Do not sweep the excrement," Chen said.
The city's bureau of health has started to disinfect the patient's residence and working environment and delivered rat poison around the areas in which he worked.
The health authorities have ruled out the possibility that the chicken butcher contracted the disease from abroad, as he held no recent records of traveling abroad. If confirmed with having the Hantavirus after the Tuesday's blood test report, the man will be regarded as a domestic Hantavirus case.
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