The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced this year’s third confirmed case of enterovirus (coxsackievirus A6 ) on May 14. A 17-month-old toddler in east Taiwan infected with the virus was diagnosed with mouth blisters (herpangina) at the end of April, subsequently suffering from myoclonic twitches, a rapid heartbeat and high blood pressure, all of which are symptoms commonly associated with enterovirus. Fortunately, the young child was quickly taken to the hospital and has already been released from the hospital after convalescing.
Chuang Jen-hsiang, director of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Center, says that the prevalence of enterovirus has continued to rise over the past month. Two weeks ago, 7.8 of every 1,000 patients were confirmed cases of enterovirus, exceeding the epidemic threshold (6.95), while the percentage of patients receiving medical treatment who have contracted enterovirus increased by 17.5 percent between three and two weeks ago.
The CDC says that infants and toddlers are at the highest risk of contracting enteroviruses, which progress quite rapidly, providing only a short window of several hours for the most effective treatment. It is imperative for an infant diagnosed with enterovirus to be isolated from other young children, and closely monitored to see if it shows any other serious symptoms, including drowsiness, semiconsciousness, sluggishness, lethargy, myoclonic twitches, sustained vomiting, shortness of breath or increased heart rate. If any of these symptoms occur, the child should immediately be taken to the hospital to receive treatment.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者朱沛雄
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
疾病管制局五月十四日公布今年第三例腸病毒重症個案，是克沙奇A6型腸病毒。一位住在東部的一歲五個月孩童，在四月下旬被診所診斷出皰疹性咽峽炎，之後頻繁出現肌躍型抽搐、合併心跳快、高血壓，這些疑似腸病毒重症的症狀，所幸即時到大醫院治療，已康復出院。
疾管局疫情中心主任莊人祥表示，過去一個月腸病毒盛行率節節高升，兩週前每一千位就診病患中，就有七點八人是腸病毒確定病例，不但已經超過流行閾值（六點九五），上上週的就診千分比，還比三週前更上升了百分之十七點五。
Photo: Yu Po-lin, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者俞泊霖
疾管局提醒民眾，學齡前嬰幼兒是腸病毒重症高危險群，病程發展快速，黃金治療時間「只有短短數小時」。如果家中小寶寶確診感染腸病毒，一定要和其他幼兒隔離，並密切注意觀察是否出現「嗜睡、意識不清、活力不佳、手腳無力」、「肌抽躍（無故驚嚇或突然間全身肌肉收縮）」、「持續嘔吐」與「呼吸急促或心跳加快」等重症前兆病徵。只要有出現上述任一病徵，務必立即送至大醫院，掌握治療的黃金時間。
（自由時報記者邱宜君）
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