A Kaohsiung doctor on Monday warned of the potential risks of frequently eating raw or cold food after treating a 60-year-old man who contracted meningitis.
The man — a security guard who frequently ate raw or cold food — sought medical assistance for a fever, Kaohsiung Jianren Hospital deputy director Wang Yao-hsien (王堯顯) said, adding that the patient had a temperature of 39°C.
The man was put on antibiotics for five days, but the fever persisted, Wang said.
Blood tests showed that the man had contracted listeriosis, a rare and serious condition that can be caused by eating food contaminated with the pathogenic bacteria Listeria monocytogenes, he said.
As the man was in a muddled state of mind, had a stiff neck and was walking unsteadily, doctors grew concerned the listeriosis had led to meningitis — acute inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.
Tests on fluid extracted from the man’s spinal cord confirmed that he had contracted meningitis and doctors adjusted his medication, Wang said.
After 25 days in hospital the man fully recovered and was discharged, he said.
Listeriosis is a contagious disease with a mortality rate of 30 to 35 percent, he said.
The disease is normally spread through contaminated food such as salad, processed meats and milk products such as cheese and butter, as well as milk, including in ice cream, that has not been pasteurized, Wang said.
Elderly people and those with a weak immune system, such as pregnant women and newborns, are a particularly high-risk group for listeriosis, he said.
Symptoms include a high fever, a stiff neck, loss of awareness, loss of balance and muscle spasms, and in severe cases the disease can lead to sepsis — excessive bacteria in the blood — or meningitis, he 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
RSS