The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday confirmed media reports that a man died of flu-related complications last week, saying that the disease is spreading more rapidly this year than it did last year, and that people should receive vaccinations as soon as possible.
CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that last week 11 cases of serious flu complications and one flu-related death had been confirmed, while more than 54,000 flu-related cases were reported by outpatient clinics and emergency rooms around the nation.
The fatality was a 64-year-old man with liver cancer who developed a fever on Oct. 11, was taken to an emergency room on Oct. 13, and died on Wednesday last week, Chuang said.
“The main reason for the death was multiple liver metastases, alongside complications of pneumonia and respiratory failure” he said.
Chuang said a total of 68 serious flu complication cases and seven flu-related deaths have been reported since July, with none of those affected having been vaccinated against the flu this year.
“The peak flu season usually begins in late November, but the numbers of flu-like infection cases, flu-related outpatient visits and patients hospitalized for flu are all significantly higher, and have occurred earlier than last year. We are not even in the peak period yet,” he said.
Yesterday afternoon, at New Taipei City’s Nanshan High School, where the CDC held a campaign to promote flu vaccination to the public, CDC Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said the flu outbreak at the beginning of the year caused more than 400 deaths and resulted in more than 2,000 people hospitalized in intensive care units.
Some people might believe that young people do not get the flu, but students are often in a group environment — school — for long periods of time, so they are often the first in a family to become infected, and can later transmit it to family members who might have weaker immune systems, he said.
He said young people are not at high risk of developing serious flu complications, but they often transmit the virus.
About 1.11 million government-funded flu vaccines have been administered on campuses, and about 1.8 million young people will have been vaccinated by the end of the month, bringing the vaccination rate of people from seven to 18 years old to about 70 percent, the centers said.
People in the high-risk group for developing complications — the elderly, infants, pregnant women and people with chronic diseases — should receive vaccinations before the peak flu season, and try to avoid going to crowded public places with poor ventilation, the centers said.
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