A team of researchers from National Taiwan University and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said they have developed an eight-level prediction score to identify children who have an increased risk of contracting tuberculosis (TB).
Taiwan has a moderate tuberculosis burden, with an annual incidence of about 70 per 100,000 people from 1997 to 2005, according to the team.
To lower incidence rates of the disease, the CDC has been working on contact investigation and preventive treatment for people who have latent infections.
Young children who have had contact with infected people are especially susceptible to developing active tuberculosis, according to the centers.
The chances that they would contract the disease are about 240 times higher than for children of the same age who had not come into contact with an infected person, the centers said.
The study — which developed an grading system to categorize the risk children aged from zero to 12 face of developing active tuberculosis within three years — can help identify and prioritize preventive treatment for children who are at a high risk of developing active tuberculosis, it added.
Chan Pei-chun (詹珮君), a CDC physician and the study’s leading author, said the research team collected data from 9,411 children aged zero to 12 years old in 2008 and 2009.
It collected measurements including reactions to tuberculin skin tests, smear-positivity, residence in high-incidence areas and gender, Chan said.
The study found that the risk of developing active tuberculosis within three years was 100, 7.8, 4.3, 1.0, 0.7 and 0.2 percent for children with risk scores of seven, six, five, four, three, and two respectively.
The centers said it estimated that for every 30 children with a risk score of five who are treated with isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT), one infection could be prevented.
“A child [who has come into] contact [with the disease and has been] diagnosed with latent TB infection receiving IPT has a 95 percent of chance of averting the subsequent development of active TB disease,” Chan said.
“Children who are at risk of developing the disease should be treated with the preventive therapy,” he added.
The study was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and the canters said it would be taken into account for the development of tuberculosis control measures.
Restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to be included in the Michelin Guide’s review for the first time this year, alongside existing entries from Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, the France-based culinary publication said yesterday. This year’s edition of the Michelin Guide Taiwan is to be unveiled on Aug. 19 in Taipei. In addition to the coveted star ratings, Michelin Taiwan would announce its “Bib Gourmand” selections — a distinction awarded to establishments offering high-quality food at moderate prices — on Aug. 12. This year’s Bib Gourmand list would also feature restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu
A firefighter yesterday died after falling into New Taipei City's Xindian River when a rescue dinghy capsized during a search mission for a man who was later found dead. The New Taipei City Fire Department said that it received a report at 4:12pm that a 50-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), had fallen into the river. A 32-year-old firefighter, surnamed Wu (吳), was among the rescuers deployed to look for Chen, the fire department said, adding that he and five other rescue personnel were in the dinghy when it capsized. Wu had no vital signs after being pulled from the water to the
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such