Enterovirus infections have entered their annual peak season, with an emergency caseload higher than the numbers recorded at the same time in the past seven years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
According to the disease control agency, the real-time outbreak and disease surveillance system (RODS) has been monitoring infections and found that in the 22nd week of the year last week, the proportion of emergency room visits attributed to enterovirus infections had reached 17.76 per million — a peak compared with the numbers in the same period since 2008.
However, CDC official Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said he expects infections to reach a peak this week or next week.
He added that four cases of severe complication causing enterovirus infections have been reported as of the end of last month, which is far lower than the 67 cases reported at the same time last year.
CDC physician Philip Yi-chun Lo (羅一鈞) cautioned the public not to confuse enterovirus infections with gastroenteritis because of their names, which are both associated with the gastrointestinal tract.
While gastroenteritis is characterized by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and its typical symptoms include severe abdominal pain and diarrhea, “enterovirus infections are associated with the symptoms of fever, sore throat, rash and blisters, or even nail-shedding when it appears with Coxsackievirus A6,” Lo said.
“Enteroviruses are spread from person to person through respiratory secretions, excretion and direct contact with the infected,” he added.
Lo advised parents to teach children good personal hygiene and, if they become infected, to keep them away from other children to avoid spreading the virus.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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