Pollen and erratic temperatures have led to a 40 percent increase in patients seeking relief from allergies, Taipei-based physician Tseng Chin-ming (曾敬閔) said.
Their symptoms include sneezing and a runny nose that occur after getting out of bed that are unaccompanied by other flu-like symptoms such as a sore throat or fever and are exacerbated by weather changes, said Tseng, a physician of thoracic medicine at Cheng Hsin General Hospital.
Allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis are common in infants, children and teenagers, because their incomplete immune systems are prone to irritation by allergens, Tseng said.
Airborne pollutants, dust mites and pollens are some of the most common allergens and dust mites are to blame for 90 percent of allergy cases in children, Tseng said.
Prolonged exposure to allergens can lead to chronic bronchitis and painful breathing and untreated allergies to airborne allergens can cause asthma or exacerbate pre-existing asthma, Tseng said.
Allergies are present in 70 percent of all Taiwanese with asthma, Tseng added.
People with allergies should avoid breeding dust mites at their residence by forgoing pets or using heavy curtains, while sheets, blankets and carpets should be laundered weekly, Tseng said.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
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