Amid rising fears of a spread of bird flu to humans, the Center for Disease Control yesterday fleshed out plans to battle a potential flu epidemic that could hospitalize as many as 75,000 people, according to some estimates.
Health officials warned that the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu could be unleashed if the virus mutates and is able to spread through human-to-human contact. They also said a mutated virus would be immune to existing treatments.
Health officials made predictions on infection and casualty rates by using a computer simulation program provided by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. They also predicted that if a bird flu epidemic strikes Taiwan, up to 25 percent of the population would be affected.
"We know it is coming, we just don't know when," said the center's director of the immunization program, Yen Jer-je (
The center estimated that as many as 75,000 people could be hospitalized once the influenza hits Taiwan. In a worst-case scenario, 14,000 patients would die from the flu.
"In the first week of the flu's onset, an estimated 14,000 patients would flood into hospitals. The number of affected people would peak in the fifth week," Yen said at a press conference yesterday.
The center's alarm came as the bird flu threat grows more ominous in neighboring southeast Asian countries.
"Since last year, 42 of the 55 people who contracted bird flu in southeast Asia have died. The mortality rate reached an unnerving high of 76 percent," said the center's deputy director Lin Ting (
In the face of a potential flu epidemic, the center mapped out three strategies, including research on vaccines, purchasing of antiviral drugs and stepping up surveillance measures. According to Yen, the center has stockpiled antiviral drugs that could meet the needs of as many as 230,000 people. The center will also consider buying more anti-flu drugs if the disease continues to spread across the region.
The best way to nip any epidemic in the bud would be to develop a safe and effective vaccine, the center said. The center, along with the National Health Institute have worked together on vaccines research, targeting the H5N1 and H9N2 strains.
However, health officials were cautious about whether their research will yield an effective vaccine before an outbreak.
"The US is also doing the vaccine research. But we cannot say for sure that we will have a vaccine before an epidemic strikes," Yen said.
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS