The Centers for Diseases Control (CDC) on Tuesday said that starting next year it would provide free tuberculosis tests to people older than five years old who have come into contact with tuberculosis patients.
Tuberculosis remains the most serious communicable disease in the nation, causing more than 600 deaths each year — more than dengue fever or other communicable diseases, the CDC said.
Tuberculosis can have a long incubation period and become active when the infected person’s immune system is weakened, CDC physician Chan Pei-chun (詹珮君) said, adding that there are about 10,000 new cases of tuberculosis reported each year in Taiwan.
She said a study conducted by CDC physician Lee Pin-hui (李品慧) and National Taiwan University College of Public Health associate professor Lin Hsien-ho (林先和) analyzed health examination data from 116,900 people and discovered that individuals who suffer from diabetes have a greater risk — by about 60 percent — of contracting tuberculosis than people without diabetes.
Their study also found that among people with diabetes, those who fail to control their blood sugar level effectively — maintaining a fasting blood glucose greater than 130 milligrams per deciliter — have an even greater chance — a 100 percent increase — to contract tuberculosis, she said, while a properly controlled blood sugar level could reduce that risk by about 40 percent.
While there are about 1 million people with diabetes in the nation, studies have shown that more than 70 percent do not control their blood sugar level effectively, she said, adding that the CDC estimated that 9.3 percent of tuberculosis cases are caused by a failure to control blood sugar level.
Chan said the CDC would begin to provide the free tests — interferon-gamma release assays — to individuals older than five who have come into contact with tuberculosis patients to identify those with latent infections, which could help reduce the risk of the disease becoming active.
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
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
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