Three new cases of Japanese encephalitis were reported in southern Taiwan last week and the disease has claimed its first victim this year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced yesterday.
The three new cases are a man in his 60s living in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營), a man in his 50s living in Pingtung County’s Nanzhou Township (南州) and a man in his 40s living in Chiayi County’s Lioujiao Township (六腳), CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said.
A total of seven cases have been confirmed this year: four in Kaohsiung and one each in Chiayi City, Chiayi County and Pingtung, he said, adding that in the same period from 2015 to last year, there were between five and 18 cases, most of which involved adults older than 40.
The three new people infected with the disease did not visit other nations recently, but all live or work near paddies, ponds, pig farms or fowl houses, so local health bureaus have sent inspectors to survey and disinfect areas near their homes and workplaces, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.
The fatality was a woman in her 50s who lived in Kaohsiung and was placed in an intensive care unit on May 28, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said.
Japanese encephalitis is a viral infection that is primarily transmitted through bites by three types of mosquitoes — Culex tritaeniorhynchus, Culex annulus and Culex fuscocephala — in Taiwan, he said.
Most people infected with the disease do not exhibit symptoms, but those who do could experience headaches, fever, aseptic meningitis, general malaise, disorientation and unilateral muscular weakness or paralysis, with severe cases ending in death or a coma, he added.
The Central Weather Bureau has forecast that Taiwan will this year experience El Nino, and temperatures in Kaohsiung have risen above their three-decade averages, so the arrival of the rainy season last month was accompanied by an increase in the number of mosquitoes, Chuang said.
Twenty cases of indigenous dengue fever have been reported in Kaohsiung this year and 171 cases that originated in other nations, the CDC said.
The agency urged people to avoid outdoor activity or to use insect repellent and wear protective clothing when going outside during peak mosquito hours — early in the morning and evening — and emphasized that people should avoid going near ponds, farms with livestock and other mosquito breeding areas.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS