Print

Mail

wiki links

Respiratory illness outbreak in an Ilan County prison infects 70 inmates

A man disinfects a room inside Ilan Prison yesterday, after roughly 70 inmates came down with a flu-like illness. PHOTO: CHEN SHIH-LIEN, TAIPEI TIMES

Faced with growing public concern over 70 suspected cases of a respiratory infection in an Ilan prison, lab analyses by the Center for Disease Control yesterday confirmed that the infections are an outbreak of influenza and admitted to a lapse in the country's medical surveillance system.

"The center requests that densely populated places such as prisons and nursing homes make reports to us if they suspect the spread of infectious diseases," Shih Wen-yi (施文儀), the Center's Deputy Director-General said.

"Because local health workers are not susceptible to the flu, the alert mechanism is not always immediate," Shih added.

According to the center, about 70 inmates have developed dry cough, sore throat and nasal congestion since Aug. 23. Under current regulations, local authorities must inform the center once more than three people are found to be suffering from flu-like symptoms. But prison officials adhered to the regulations and reported the outbreak just three days ago.

"We have promulgated the new rules for some time, but we cannot ascertain how well the local authorities understand the regulations," Shih said.

According to Shih, a prison doctor usually sees 20 patients a day. On Aug. 28, however, the number of people seeking medical treatment in the Ilan Prison soared to 71. "The sudden hike is an all-too-obvious signal of an outbreak," Shih said.

On Aug. 23 alone, 23 prisoners in the Ilan Prison were diagnosed with upper respiratory tract infection and seven with a fever, yet the prison's health staff did not report the cases until a week later.

Before the prison alerted the center, the number of prisoners catching the air borne disease was on the increase. On Aug. 29, three patients were diagnosed with a fever. The next day another three were identified. On Wednesday, 10 more people were added to the list of fever patients in the prison. The center said fevers have spread to another 23 since then.

"An eruption of respiratory disease not unlike SARS is our biggest fear, especially in a congested prison," Shih said.

Now that the infected inmates are under quarantine, spread of the illness in the prison is reported to be under control. According to the center, 17 of the 23 patients still have a fever but are expected to recover within two weeks.
This story has been viewed 2433 times.