The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that 35 cases of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, were reported in the first half of this year, the highest in a decade, while five cases of Japanese encephalitis were reported last week.
Seventeen whooping cough cases were reported last week, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said.
Last week’s cases were in northern, central and southern Taiwan, and they included a sporadic case and four clusters, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said.
Photo: CNA
The four clusters consist of three families and a cluster that spread from a family to a school, with the biggest cluster having nine cases, she said.
Of the 35 cases this year, adolescents aged 11 to 18 accounted for 13 cases (37 percent), and infants accounted for eight cases (23 percent), CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said.
Whooping cough activity is peaking in Japan, with more than 32,000 cases this year, while it has slowed in South Korea, where 4,500 cases have been recorded this year, but is on the rise in the US, Lee said.
“It is rare that 17 cases of whooping cough, with nine cases in a cluster, were reported in a single month,” Lo said.
The CDC expects whooping cough activity to increase in the next few months, as more cases are typically reported in July and August, and Japan is a popular travel destination for Taiwanese, he said.
It is unlikely that cases would surge to more than 10,000 as they did in Japan, because Taiwanese children usually receive five doses of the DTaP vaccine, he said.
However, there has been some adolescent cases, as the protection they received from their most recent vaccine — before elementary school — likely waned, with studies suggesting that vaccine protection lasts five to 10 years, he said.
Infants younger than six months are at higher risk for severe complications, including pneumonia and encephalopathy, the CDC said.
Adolescents and adults usually have milder symptoms, but they can transmit it to infants, it said.
If people have a persistent cough for more than a week, they should seek medical attention — especially if they vomit after coughing, it added.
Five cases of Japanese encephalitis were reported in central and southern Taiwan last week, and they are still hospitalized, Lee said.
Contact tracing showed that they all live near high-risk areas, such as pig farms, rice paddies or pigeon houses, she said.
June and July are typically the peak period of Japanese encephalitis activity, so the CDC urges people — especially those living near high-risk areas with high mosquito activity — to take prevention measures, she said.
In addition, the CDC said four new cases of mpox were reported last week, and a baby younger than one month died due to severe complications following an enterovirus infection.
The enterovirus strain the newborn was infected with is not confirmed, but it is likely to be echovirus 11, so the CDC has informed 1,720 infant care centers and 255 postpartum care centers across the nation to conduct enterovirus prevention self-examination before July 15, Lo said.
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