The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said that 118 hospitals nationwide next month would start treating people with latent tuberculosis (TB) using a medication that can decrease the course of treatment from about nine months to about three months.
The CDC said that about 10 percent of people with latent tuberculosis have a lifetime risk of developing tuberculosis, especially within the first year after initial infection and when their immune system becomes weak, so having regular checkups and proper treatment is important.
An antibiotic called isoniazid is the most common treatment for latent and active tuberculosis and is taken daily for nine months. However, sometimes patients forget to take their medication or stop taking it before the course is finished, which can lead to drug resistance.
The CDC trialed using a combination of antibiotics — rifapentine and isoniazid taken weekly for three months — at 77 hospitals. As of June 30, 639 people had been given the medications and 33 people had completed the treatment.
It said the prescription rate of the new drug had reached 61 percent at the 77 hospitals, surpassing the rate of isoniazid, so it plans to provide the drug combination to 118 hospitals starting next month for an estimated 2,200 patients, which is expected to reduce active tuberculosis cases by 220 people each year.
Meanwhile, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Liu Ting-ping (劉定萍) said communicable diseases, such as Japanese encephalitis and scrub typhus, are both at the peaks of the epidemic curve.
Japanese encephalitis is more prevalent in central and southern Taiwan, as well as Hualien County. Scrub typhus is more prevalent in Hualien, Taitung and on the outlying islands.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
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