A Tainan doctor is urging females not to ignore their bodies’ signals to urinate — especially in hot summer months and when so many people are spending long periods of time outdoors trying to catch Pokemon Go characters.
Hung Yuan-pin (洪元斌), director of Tainan Hospital’s Division of Infectious Diseases, said a 20-year-old university student developed kidney abscesses after ignoring her need to go while playing Pokemon Go with her boyfriend on Aug. 6.
Even though the couple spent several hours outdoors in the hot weather and were sweating heavily, the woman did not drink any water because she was worried that it would be too difficult to find a bathroom, Hung said.
The following day the student experienced a burning sensation when urinating, but did not seek medical treatment, he said.
Three days later, when she began to experience abdominal pain and a high fever, she went to see a doctor, he said.
The woman had developed an urinary tract infection and kidney abscesses, and was prescribed a course of antibiotics, he said.
“As an individual’s urine levels typically drop in summer months it is easy for urinary tract infections to occur. Common symptoms of such an infection include a burning sensation when urinating, pain in the lower back and abdomen, increased frequency of urination, traces of blood in urine and fever,” Hung said. “It is important that people playing Pokemon outdoors drink plenty of water and not hold in their urine.”
Urinary tract infections are caused by bacteria entering the urinary tract, ureter, bladder and kidneys; the initial symptoms are usually mild and may be overlooked, he said.
“Overlooking the symptoms may be dangerous for those with weakened immune systems or those who suffer from other ailments such as diabetes, cirrhosis or cancer. In those individuals, failure to treat the infection may lead to acute renal inflammation... In the worst cases, the patient may suffer septic shock, which would require draining of the kidney and possible surgery. Failure to treat those extreme cases could even lead to death,” he said.
Bacteria commonly found in urinary tract infections include E. coli and Klebsiella and Proteus species, adding that the bacteria generally show up in the digestive tract and flourish when they reach the reproductive area, Hung said.
A person with a strong immune system is usually able to fight off the bacteria without problems, he said.
“As a female’s urinary tract is longer than a male’s, they tend to be more susceptible to infections, so they should be especially vigilant about drinking enough water and not holding in urine,” he said.
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
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
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400