The peak season for enterovirus might begin later this month or early next month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) told a news conference yesterday.
There were 4,655 enterovirus infection cases reported nationwide last week, compared with the 4,389 cases reported for the same week in 2016, the 3,090 cases in 2017 and the 3,817 cases last year, Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said.
There have been four cases with serious complications so far this year, two from cases of enterovirus 71 (EV71) and one each from enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) and Coxsackievirus A10, he said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
The most common circulating enteroviruses in the past four weeks were the type A coxsackieviruses, Guo said.
The peak season in Taiwan for enterovirus is usually between April and September, but the timing can be affected by the weather, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said, adding that last year the peak season did not arrive until June and July in 2017.
People, especially parents with young children, should follow good hand hygiene — washing hands thoroughly with water and soap — and change their clothes after returning home and before touching or feeding their children, Lo said.
The CDC also urged people going into mountainous areas during this week’s long holiday weekend for tomb sweeping or hikes to follow a few simple steps to try to avoid being bitten by snakes or wild animals.
People should wear long sleeves, use a stick to stir the bushes or long grass before walking in, and remain calm and remember the “five dos and five don’ts” if they are bitten by a snake.
The five dos are: Treat the bite as if it were from venomous snake, remember the snake’s color and characteristics, remove all accessories or clothing in the area of the bite, wrap the limb tightly with rope or elastics between the wound and the heart, and seek medical treatment immediately.
The five don’ts are: Do not cut open the wound, do not put an ice patch on it, do not drink alcoholic or stimulating beverages, do not use the mouth to try to suck out the venom and do not delay treatment.
About 1,400 people are bitten by venomous snakes every year in Taiwan, and the mortality rate can reach 6 percent if antivenom treatment is not given in time, CDC physician Liu Yu-lun (劉宇倫) said.
CDC Center for Research, Diagnostics and Vaccine Development section head Cheng Ya-fen (鄭雅芬) said the centers is the only institute that produces antivenom serums in Taiwan.
It produces about 5,000 to 6,000 doses per year, and an average of about 3,000 to 4,000 doses are used annually, Cheng said.
The government’s venomous snake and ferret badger bite rescue information Web site (bites.cdc.gov.tw) provides information on where venomous snakes have been spotted and hospitals that have antivenom serums, the CDC said.
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