The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday confirmed that dengue hemorrhagic fever has claimed its first victim in the nation this year: a 76-year-old woman from Greater Kaohsiung’s Lingya District (苓雅) who died only eight days after contracting the mosquito-borne virus.
The tropical disease is treatable, but can be fatal if it develops into dengue hemorrhagic fever, as in the case of the 76-year-old woman.
The woman had a medical history of high blood pressure and diabetes and began experiencing fever, vomiting, muscle and joint pains on Aug. 9, the CDC said.
“She had blood in her stool and began suffering gastrointestinal bleeding shortly after being admitted to a local hospital. She died of severe shock and multiple organ failure on Saturday,” the agency said.
CDC also reported another case of dengue hemorrhagic fever that struck a 34-year-old man from the municipality’s Siaogang District (小港). The man developed symptoms of fever, headache, muscle soreness, nausea, and vomiting on Aug. 8 and not diagnosed until Monday last week.
Shortly after the man was admitted into a hospital that day, he also started exhibiting more severe symptoms, including nosebleeds, bloody stool and bleeding gums, the centers said, adding that thanks to the administration of timely treatments, the patient recovered and been discharged from hospital.
“New cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever are expected to increase in the city during the disease’s annual peak period. People in the high-risk group, such as those with high blood pressure, are urged to take particular heed of their physical condition and step up their mosquito control measures,” the health agency said.
As of Monday, a total of 878 dengue fever infections have been reported in the country this year, including 120 imported and 758 locally acquired cases.
In related news, a two-year-old boy was diagnosed with measles last week after he was found to have a fever when passing through a health screening station at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday, bringing the total number of measles cases to 18 this year.
“The boy failed to receive a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine that he was due to receive by August last year and flew to Indonesia with his mother on Oct. 4 last year to visit their relatives,” the centers said.
The child began exhibiting fever, cough, rash and a runny nose on Aug. 11, before flying back to Taiwan on Thursday, the centers said, adding that none of the 51 people who had direct contact with the boy have shown any signs of being infected.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS