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.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
MORE DEMOCRACY: The only solution to Taiwan’s current democratic issues involves more democracy, including Constitutional Court rulings and citizens exercising their civil rights , Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is not the “motherland” of the Republic of China (ROC) and has never owned Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. The speech was the third in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to deliver across Taiwan. Taiwan is facing external threats from China, Lai said at a Lions Clubs International banquet in Hsinchu. For example, on June 21 the army detected 12 Chinese aircraft, eight of which entered Taiwanese waters, as well as six Chinese warships that remained in the waters around Taiwan, he said. Beyond military and political intimidation, Taiwan
RSS