Quoting a WHO forecast, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) warned yesterday of a possible worldwide outbreak of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease.
CDC officials called for citizens who have traveled abroad to contact health agencies for checkups upon their return and for those who stay at home to clean mosquito-infested areas such as stagnant water in ponds and sewers, as well as any standing water that does not contain pesticides -- even in the saucers under potted plants -- to help contain the disease.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
According to CDC information, 720 cases of dengue have been reported in Taiwan so far this year, with 12 cases involving the potentially deadly form of the disease -- dengue hemorrhagic fever. Most cases have been reported in southern Taiwan, marking the nation's most serious dengue threat in 14 years.
Of the 720 reported cases, 695 were confirmed as endemic dengue fever, all originating from Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County.
A total of 25 cases were found to have originated from abroad, brought in by returning visitors to Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries.
According to the CDC, some 550,000 suspected dengue cases were reported in Brazil in the first six months of this year. Of the total, about 200,000 cases were dengue hemorrhagic fever, which has already killed 84 people there.
In Malaysia, more than 3,000 cases had been reported as of July 31 and thousands of similar cases were reported in some Central American countries, CDC officials said.
Dengue fever, which ravaged Taiwan in the early 1930s with nearly 80 percent of Taiwan's population contracting the disease, seems to have affected Taiwan according to a pattern whereby the nation experiences a smaller-scale epidemic every three years and a major outbreak every 10 years, the officials said.
Meanwhile, Environmental Protection Administrator Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) announced a nationwide effort to destroy mosquitoes, their larvae and mosquito-infested environments from Saturday until Aug. 18.
Violators of the Disease Control Law and the Waste Management Statute will face fines ranging from NT$1,200 to NT$150,000.
Four types of the virus that causes dengue fever have been found and patients with more than one type of virus can develop symptoms that include bleeding of the gums, the skin and the intestinal tract, in addition to the classic symptoms of sudden high fever, severe headache, nausea and vomiting as well as muscle and joint pain.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
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