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Four-year-old boy from Yunlin dies from enterovirus

The Department of Health reported on Monday the first fatality from enterovirus since school began earlier this month.

Shih Wen-yi (施文儀), deputy director of the department’s Centers for Disease Control, said the patient was a four-year-old boy from Yunlin County.

This was the 13th fatality this year from enterovirus, with the other deaths occurring in the late spring.

Shih said that while the boy had stopped going to kindergarten on Thursday after falling ill, he had attended an evening performance at the school on Friday.

After developing symptoms including twittering, high blood pressure and ventricular flutter, he was sent to hospital for treatment.

As his condition did not improve, the boy was transferred to a medical center in Changhua, where he was pronounced dead on Saturday.

“The samples taken from the boy tested negative [for antibodies against enterovirus]. But since the boy’s illness progressed so fast, the department concluded he died before his body had time to develop antibodies,” Shih said.

While some may believe that the threat of enterovirus decreases with the arrival of fall, the disease can still strike and parents and teachers should remind small children to wash their hands frequently as a precaution, Shih said.

Parents and teachers should also be on guard if children under five years of age display the typical symptoms of serious enterovirus infection — fever, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, twittering and drowsiness.

Enterovirus is the most common cause of aseptic meningitis and can cause serious illness, especially in infants and individuals with a compromised immune system.
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