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DOH confirms man from Taipei has paratyphoid fever
INFECTED:
The 53-year-old patient is being treated in a quarantined ward for the disease, which has a tendency to flare up in the summer
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Saturday, Mar 24, 2007, Page 2
The Department of Health yesterday confirmed the first indigenous case of paratyphoid fever this year.
Officials said the 53-year-old man began to develop symptoms including high fever and diarrhea last Sunday and was confirmed to have been infected with the contagious disease yesterday.
The patient is now undergoing antibiotic treatment in a quarantined ward, they said.
Tseng Shu-huei (曾淑慧), a deputy section chief of the department's Center for Disease Control, said Taiwan had confirmed 76 cases of paratyphoid fever, a disease caused by gram-negative bacteria, over the past five years, of which 44 came from abroad and 32 werer indigenous.
Paratyphoid fever is marked by high fever, headache, loss of appetite, vomiting and constipation or diarrhea. The patient typically develops an enlarged spleen.
Outbreaks often occur in the summer. The disease can be spread through food or water contaminated by the feces or urine of an infected person.
Most patients with paratyphoid fever recover completely, although intestinal complications can result in death.
In terms of the indigenous cases, health officials said that Taipei County had reported the most cases with eight; followed by Hsinchu City, Changhua County and Kaohsiung City, with three cases each; Taipei City, Taichung County, Tainan County and Kaohsiung County, with two cases each; and Tainan and Chiayi cities and Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Ilan, Pingtung and Penghu counties with one case each.
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