The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has issued a warning after three cases of the plague have been confirmed in China this year.
The CDC issued the warning on Saturday afternoon, saying that according to data published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing confirmed that a married couple living in Inner Mongolia had contracted the plague.
The husband began to experience fever and had difficulty breathing beginning in late October. His wife subsequently developed similar symptoms.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
Both sought treatment at a local healthcare facility and were transferred to Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital on Nov. 3, with one of them in critical condition.
The Beijing government said it has implemented quarantine measures and identified people who had direct contact with the patients.
It urged people to avoid visiting areas where plague is spreading and to avoid rodents.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said the plague is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium that could be transmitted from fleas to rodents and then to other animals and humans.
Early symptoms might include abnormal lymph nodes at the area where the bacteria entered, which might develop into the septicemic form of the plague, a life-threatening infection of the blood, he said.
Pneumonic plague, the most severe form of the disease, is airborne and can be spread through coughing and sneezing, the CDC said.
A total of three cases, including one death, have been confirmed in China this year, it said.
Lo said the plague is a serious disease, with a fatality rate of 30 to 60 percent if left untreated, but there have been no cases reported in Taiwan since 1953.
The CDC would continue to monitor the situation in China and would consider issuing a travel warning if the situation worsens, he said.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS