The nation’s second case of Lyme disease this year has been confirmed, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
The patient was a Taiwanese woman in her 60s whose family lives in the US state of Massachusetts, where she was bitten by ticks as she approached a deer in August, the agency said.
“This is the second case of imported Lyme disease this year, and the first involving a Taiwanese,” CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said.
The woman said she was bitten by ticks in the middle of August, and began suffering from numbness in her left cheek and rashes on her limbs on Sept. 11, so she went to see a doctor. A blood test confirmed that she had Lyme disease, she said.
The woman returned to Taiwan on Sept. 14, went to see a doctor on Sept. 19 because her symptoms had not abated, and was hospitalized for a few days, Lin said.
The woman has since been discharged from the hospital.
“Lyme disease can be transmitted to humans through the bite of infected ticks, and there is no risk of transmission between humans,” Lin said, adding that the disease is more common in countries within temperate zones, and the peak period of transmission is between May and August.”
Twelve cases have been reported in Taiwan in the past 10 years, and all had been people who were bitten by ticks while in other countries, he added.
The average incubation period of the disease is seven to 10 days, but can be anywhere from three to 32 days, the CDC said.
About 70 to 80 percent of inwho are infected might suffer from superficial reddening of the skin, and symptoms similar to a common cold, including headache, fever, swollen lymph glands, muscle pain, sore throat and neck stiffness in the early stages, but can develop heart or nerve abnormalities if not treated properly, the agency said.
People going into rural places where Lyme disease is prevalent should wear long sleeves, tuck their pants into their socks, and spray insect repellent on themselves, the agency said, adding that if bitten by a tick, the tick should be carefully removed with a tweezer and the bite washed with soap.
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