Most of the nation’s cases this year of a bacterial infection called melioidosis have occurred in Kaohsiung, the Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday.
Of the 33 confirmed and suspected cases of melioidosis reported as of Thursday, 20 were in Kaohsiung, with 11 of them in the city’s Nanzih District (楠梓), the department said.
Before Typhoon Nanmadol hit Taiwan late last month, the total number of confirmed melioidosis cases was 15, including one death, the department said. Of those cases, 11 were in Kaohsiung, with three reported in the Nanzih District.
After the typhoon hit southern Taiwan, there were another 11 suspected cases, eight of which were in the Nanzih District, the department added.
One of the cases was a Nanzih resident in her early 60s, who died the same day her case was reported, the department said.
Han Yung-kuang (韓永光), a health department division chief in Kaohsiung City, said that in all cases in the Nanzih District, the infected patients had been living within 3km of the Houjin River (後勁溪).
Burkholderia pseudomallei, the bacterium that causes melioidosis, is found in soil, rice paddies and stagnant water. The disease is spread through contact with contaminated sources, inhalation of contaminated dust and person-to-person contact, according to medical sources.
Symptoms include fever, headache, chest pains, skin ulcers, pneumonia and septicemia.
The heavy rain and wind from Typhoon Nanmadol could have spread the bacteria from a contaminated source, the DOH said.
Elderly people with chronic diseases and those with weakened immune systems are especially susceptible to melioidosis and 80 percent of confirmed cases involve people who suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease, the department said.
The DOH urged people to wear rain shoes or waterproof boots and gloves when they are near a contaminated environment.
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