Whether last week’s norovirus outbreak in Taichung’s Hoya Resort Hotel Wuling (武陵富野渡假村) was caused by norovirus GII.17 — a genotype common in certain African nations — has not been determined, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
The agency made the remarks after a norovirus outbreak at the hotel over the Lunar New Year holiday affected more than 200 guests and employees.
Norovirus infections cause rapid onset of vomiting and diarrhea. The virus is transmitted through the fecal-oral route, primarily via contaminated food or water.
CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said there are many genotypes of norovirus and that local cases last year were caused mostly by GII.4 and GII.6 strains.
“GII.17 genotype was first detected in Taiwan in October 2013, before disappearing shortly later. However, it re-emerged in the nation late last year and has since been the most predominant genotype circulating in the country,” Chuang said.
Chuang said the world’s knowledge about the GII.17 strain’s pathogenicity and level of communicability is still limited, except that it caused a cluster of infections in Africa and Brazil in 2005 and 2006 respectively, and affected a few individuals in the US and Japan in recent years.
“We are still trying to gather all the information we can,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Chiayi County Health Bureau yesterday confirmed that a total of 18 people were suspected of having contracted norovirus in the county’s Alishan (阿里山) area over the past few days.
“They began suffering from vomiting and diarrhea during the period from Tuesday to Thursday last week. A preliminary testing showed that their symptoms could have been caused by a norovirus infection,” the bureau said.
Three of the suspected cases were tourists, while the rest are staffers from the Alishan House (阿里山賓館), the bureau said.
The bureau’s preliminary investigation showed that the small norovirus outbreak could have originated with one of Alishan House’s kitchen workers, who visited a hospital on Tuesday last week for a blood pressure spike.
While at the hospital, a patient waiting next to the worker complained of vomiting and loose stools and was believed to have passed the virus to the employee, who also experienced similar symptoms after returning to the hotel, the bureau said.
Hoya Resort Hotel Group (高野大飯店), which operates Hoya Resort Hotel Wuling, yesterday said the incident could cause about NT$4.5 million (US$142,000) in losses, even though no significant financial impact is expected.
Medical spending for infected customers would be covered by insurance policies, the company yesterday said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Hoya said it would return payments to customers who checked in on Monday and yesterday, during the outbreak.
Hoya said it would resume offering rooms today after a two-day shutdown, but its restaurants would remain closed until the health department releases its inspection results.
Additional reporting by Lisa Wang
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS