A Taiwanese woman who visited Japan last month has the first imported case of German measles in the nation this year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said.
The CDC said the 35-year-old woman started to develop symptoms of rubella, also called German measles, two weeks after she returned home, including rashes, cervical lymphadenopathy, joint pains and conjunctivitis.
The woman has recovered and the 160 people who had contact with her when she was infected are being monitored by health authorities, the CDC said, and so far there has been no report of any contact developing rubella-like symptoms.
Infection of pregnant women who are not immune to the virus can cause stillbirths, spontaneous abortion or damage to the organs of a fetus, the CDC said.
The fetus of an infected mother who is in her early pregnancy is particularly susceptible to the congenital rubella syndrome, which include serious illnesses such as sensorineural deafness, glaucoma, cataracts, intellectual disability and heart diseases, it said.
The CDC urged all women of childbearing age or who are planning to become pregnant to make sure they are immune to the virus or receive vaccinations three months before their first conception.
Those who lack the antibodies should receive the MMR vaccine, which is a combination vaccine that ensures protection against measles, mumps and rubella.
The rubella epidemic that erupted in Japan last year is continuing. The CDC said pregnant women not immunized against the disease and children younger than one should avoid visiting regions where there is a rubella epidemic.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching