Taipei Veterans General Hospital on Wednesday launched Taiwan’s first dedicated gut microbiota laboratory, in a bid to develop new therapies for people with infections that cause diarrhea.
The laboratory is expected to store at least 100 fecal samples to study gut microbiota, which could contribute to the treatment of Clostridium difficile — a bacteria that is often spread in healthcare facilities — as well as autism, Parkinson’s disease, allergies and diabetes, among others, the hospital said.
Hou Ming-chi (侯明志), director of the hospital’s Medicine Department, told reporters that while Clostridium difficile is found in the gut of about two to three people out of every 1,000, only 2 percent of them develop a Clostridium difficile infection.
Photo: CNA
Symptoms can range from diarrhea to life-threatening sepsis, Hou said.
A Clostridium difficile infection most commonly occurs in people who have received antibiotic treatment for a long time or have used antacids, he said, adding that older people and people who have a weak immune system are more prone to being infected.
People with a Clostridium difficile infection used to be treated with antibiotics, but the recurrence rate was high, Hou said, adding that the overall mortality rate among people hospitalized for Clostridium difficile is as high as 30 percent within 30 days of diagnosis.
Researchers in the US have implanted gut microbiota extracted from a healthy person’s fecal sample into the intestines of people with a Clostridium difficile infection to restore the balance of bacteria.
To ensure the quality of its gut microbiota, the hospital said it only receives fecal samples from people who are under the age of 65, with a body mass index lower than 25 and with no history of diabetes or hepatitis.
A person cannot donate if they have traveled overseas or has used antibiotics within three months, the hospital said.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS