Despite a majority of influenza cases reported this season involving the influenza A (H1N1) virus, Minister of Health and Welfare Chiang Been-huang (蔣丙煌) said the number of influenza B virus infections has increased.
A flu outbreak, which started in July last year and reached its peak last month, has led to more than 1,000 serious flu-related complication cases — the highest number of cases recorded in five years.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare has been criticized for acting too slowly in allocating medical resources — including hospital beds and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machines — for emergency treatment of patients with serious flu-related complications.
Chiang visited four medical centers on Saturday afternoon, while Department of Medical Affairs Director Wang Tsung-hsi (王宗曦) and local health department officials visited four hospitals to assess the responsive measures taken by hospitals against flu.
“The number of influenza B virus infections is growing and we are concerned that it might trigger a new outbreak,” Chiang said, adding that the ministry would pay close attention to the situation and urge hospitals to prepare responsive measures.
“Sometimes after an outbreak of a flu virus, another type of virus can become more common,” said Lee Ping-ing (李秉穎), spokesperson of the Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan and a pediatrician at National Taiwan University Hospital.
“Influenza B virus infection can easily trigger muscle inflammation in patients,” Lee said. “Sometimes when children are infected with the influenza B virus and their calf muscles become inflamed, it hurts so much that they feel like they cannot walk, but usually the symptoms disappear in a couple of days.”
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