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New mutant virus, child's death cause health scare

In addition to the recent dysentery outbreak brought about by tourists returning from Bali, a new influenza strain and an infant dying from hand, foot and mouth disease have kept the Center for Disease Control (CDC) busy for more than a week.

According to Su Ih-jen (蘇益仁), Director General of the CDC, lab results have identified the influenza variant encountered in Taiwan as similar to the Fujian strain that has been common in the US, Canada and Europe this year. To date, the Panama virus strain has dominated influenza activity in Taiwan.

The new variant differs from the Panama strain by 13 amino acids, and from the Fujian strain by only 3 amino acids, Su said.

Yen Tse-chieh (顏哲傑), a CDC official, said that the eight-year-old boy who had contracted the variant virus had not traveled abroad recently, which indicates that the new strain has most likely resulted from virus mutation.

The CDC yesterday also confirmed that an infant had died of hand, foot and mouth disease on Nov. 27. The infant, along with 12 other children who had been in the same nursery, was transferred to the Taipei Mackay Memorial Hospital for further observation.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is not the same as the more well known foot-and-mouth disease, which occurs in cattle, sheep and swine. Although the names are similar, the two diseases are not related and are caused by different viruses.

Shih confirmed that the infant had contracted echovirus 11 and said that health officials were investigating the possibility that it had been caused by hospital infection or mother-to-child transmission.

In an effort to prevent an outbreak of the disease, the CDC has had specimens from over 100 healthcare workers and patients analyzed. The results will be available next week.

Su said that influenza vaccines currently being used in Taiwan are effective against the Panama, New Caledonia and Hong Kong virus strains.

Because the effectiveness of a vaccine depends on how closely it matches the circulating viruses, the Department of Health Director General Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said that the vaccines currently being used provided some cross-protective immunity against the Fujian virus strain.

Shih Wen-yi (施文儀), deputy director of the CDC, said that a World Health Organization study released on Nov. 21 indicated that the current vaccines are up to 76 percent effective in the general public and 72 percent in the elderly.

Su said that because the Fujian influenza strain has mostly affected young children in the US, Canada and Europe, the CDC was considering policies that would provide vaccine injections for kindergarteners and preschoolers in the event of fever outbreaks.

The consequences of influenza were most serious among the elderly, often leading to pneumonia and even death, Su said.

Yen said influenza and pneumonia caused about 3, 000 deaths last year, about 90 percent of which were among the elderly.

Meanwhile, Shih said that as of last night 99 cases of dysentery had been reported.

"The 99 cases were found in travelers who returned to Taiwan before Nov. 24. It's possible that members of the same tour group passed dysentery to others in the group, and the newly infected travelers could be exhibiting symptoms by now," Shih said, stressing that the situation was under control.
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