Southern Taiwan is experiencing a major outbreak of dengue fever, with an average of 10 confirmed cases being reported every day, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
As of yesterday afternoon, the CDC had confirmed 283 cases, including 202 in Kaohsiung City, 80 in Kaohsiung County, and one in Taipei County.
Kaohiung's Chienchen (前鎮) and Fengshan (鳳山) districts are where the majority of cases of the mosquito-borne virus have been reported.
The CDC says three of the cases have been confirmed as dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) -- the more severe form of the disease. DHF can be fatal if not recognized and treated properly.
"Compared to the last few years, this year's outbreak of dengue fever developed rapidly between June and July, especially in the Kaohsiung region," CDC Deputy Director-General Chiang Ying-lung (江英隆) said yesterday.
Last year there were 201 dengue cases reported in Kaohsiung City.
"Reasons for this year's serious outbreak are complicated," Chiang said. "The rapid rise in temperature and the frequent rain showers in the southern part of Taiwan could be major factors."
"Moreover, people tend to ignore the seriousness [of the disease] and stop cleaning their houses to eliminate mosquito eggs and larvae since there has been no major outbreak for the past three to four years," he added.
In an effort to stop the spread of the disease, a cleaning effort launched by the local health bureaus in the Kaohsiung area continued over the weekend. Disinfectants have been sprayed to reduce the mosquito population and containers or other items that can retain water or collect rainwater have been thrown out.
The CDC also announced that anyone failing to clean up their household to eliminate possible mosquito-breeding areas could face fines up to NT$150,000. People who refuse to cooperate with the local health bureaus or hinder the public clean-up efforts could be fined up to NT$300,000.
Dengue fever is caused by one of four closely related, but distinct, virus serotypes -- DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4 -- which are transmitted to humans by the bite of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which feeds during the day. It can't be spread directly from person to person.
Symptoms of dengue fever include a high fever, severe headache, backache, joint pain, nausea and rash.
The incubation period for dengue fever is three to 14 days. There is no vaccine against the disease, nor any specific treatment for it. People with dengue fever are normally treated with pain relievers containing acetaminophen or in more serious cases, with fluid-replacement therapy.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
RSS