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Kaohsiung warns against enterovirus, confirms one death

Officials from the Kaohsiung City Department of Health warned the public yesterday to remain on guard against enterovirus even during the winter -- a time when the highly contagious virus is usually less prevalent.

The officials urged the public to improve personal hygiene and wash their hands often to keep enterovirus away all year round.

They made the call in the wake of a report of a death from enterovirus type 71 (E71) infection in Kaohsiung on Dec. 27.

The case was confirmed as the sixth E71 infection in Taiwan in 2007, and the only one resulting in death.

The case involved an 18-month-old boy who came down with a fever, vomiting and hand-foot-and-mouth syndrome on Dec. 24 and was hospitalized on Dec. 26 after developing other symptoms, including twitching and a rash. The child died the next day of pulmonary edema and respiratory failure -- complications caused by the infection, said Chang Hung-tai (張宏泰), emergency room director at Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital.

The deceased child's four-year-old older sister also came down with a fever, vomiting and hand-foot-and-mouth syndrome on Dec. 26, Chang said. After she was hospitalized in intensive care on Dec. 27, her condition stabilized, he said.

Enteroviruses are the most common cause of aseptic meningitis and can be serious, especially in infants.

An E71 outbreak in 2005 infected 145 children and killed 15.
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