While rosy cheeks can be a sign of health in young children, that was certainly not the case for a six-year-old boy whose pink cheeks were recently identified as the symptom of a virus.
According to Reshining Clinic deputy superintendent Pan Chun-shen (潘俊伸), the boy’s parents thought the red blotches on his cheeks were caused by warm weather, until they started spreading to his torso and limbs a few days later.
“The rashes were slightly itchy and were accompanied by fever and a runny nose, which led the clinic to diagnose the boy with parvovirus B19 infection, a common illness in children that is sometimes referred to as slapped-cheek syndrome or the fifth disease,” Pan said.
Photo provided by Pan Chun-shen
Parvovirus B19 is transmitted primarily by respiratory secretions, but can also spread through blood or blood products. Red rashes on the face or other parts of the body generally appear four to 20 days after infection.
Pan said the illness is most prevalent among children aged between five and 15 and tends to occur in spring and early summer.
“In the early stages symptoms are similar to those of a respiratory infection, such as a runny or blocked nose; it often cannot be identified until the rash becomes visible,” Pan said, adding that the disease is no longer contagious after the rash appears.
Pan said that while there is no specific medicine to treat the condition, parents can purchase antipyretics or drugs designed to assuage coughing and clear blocked noses to ease symptoms.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS