The human papillomavirus (HPV) could survive in warm and humid environments for more than a day, an urologist in Kaohsiung said after a 50-year-old woman said she suspects she contracted the virus from a sauna and spread it to her daughter.
The patient, who was diagnosed with genital warts, said she only has one sexual partner — her husband — and that her husband has been faithful to her, said Cheng Pin-jui (鄭斌睿), director of the Kaomei Urologic Clinic’s branch on Cisian Road, on Monday.
Her daughter, who is in the sixth grade, was later discovered to also have been infected.
The virus may have been transmitted to the daughter through a shared towel, he said.
Since genital warts have an incubation period of three weeks to nine months, the daughter might have contracted the virus before her mother showed any symptoms, he said.
While genital warts are most often spread through sexual contact, they can also be transmitted “indirectly” at public facilities — such as toilets and saunas, he said.
Typically, the HPV types that cause genital warts survive just two to three hours outside the human body, he said, adding that if the virus is in a warm and humid environment, it can survive more than a day.
If someone then makes skin contact with a contaminated surface, they could be infected, he said.
People should cover the lower halves of their bodies with a clean towel when they are at the sauna or hot spring to avoid direct contact with public facilities, he said.
The HPV vaccine also lowers the risk of contracting the virus, he said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS