Today is World Tuberculosis day, and although Taiwan is not a member of the WHO, Department of Health officials say the nation has responded to the WHO's Global Plan to Stop TB by pledging to cut TB rates in Taiwan by half by 2015.
"We are well on track to achieving our goals," said Yang Shih-yan (
Yang made the remarks at an event hosted by the CDC that was aimed at raising awareness about the disease that is still the deadliest infectious killer in Taiwan. The event was also held in part to applaud the work of the nation's TB outreach workers.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Although TB disproportionately affects marginalized segments of society such as the homeless, nobody is safe from the disease.
"When I got infected with TB 10 years ago, I thought it was a bad bout of flu," said former head of the Hakka Affairs Council Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉), "but when I started coughing up blood and went to the doctors again, it turned out to be tuberculosis."
A lengthy course of pharmaceutical treatment is necessary to cure tuberculosis, CDC officials said.
If the drugs are not taken on a daily basis until long after patients no longer experience symptoms, TB can return.
Drug-resistant strains of the disease also could emerge, they added.
In order to ensure that patients take their drugs as instructed, there are more than 400 TB outreach workers nationwide who deliver the drugs to the patients daily and do not leave until they verify that the pills have been taken.
This approach is called Directly Observed Treatment Short courses, or DOTS.
"If one of my clients is homeless, then it is my job to go to all the parks and other regular hangouts until I find him," said outreach worker Hung Hui-wen (洪惠文).
"I have about 10 clients to see each day, and I try to chat a little bit and explain to them why it is important to take their pills in addition to bringing them their medication," Hung said.
A TB patient's regimen varies, said Hung, and they might have to take from eight to 15 pills depending on their condition.
"More than 80 percent of Taiwan's tuberculosis patients have been assigned DOTS outreach workers," said Yang, "I see no reason why Taiwan will not accomplish its goal of cutting TB by half by 2015."
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai