The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday confirmed eight indigenous cases of dengue fever, believed to be part of a cluster infection associated with a farm in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽).
The eight patients — seven men and one woman, aged between 40 and 70 — developed symptoms, including a fever, a headache, joint pain and a rash, between Sept. 17 and Wednesday, and have all been to Wuliao Borough (五寮) during the period, where the farm is located.
Seven are from New Taipei City, the CDC said.
Photo provided by New Taipei City Government Department of Health via CNA
The eighth patient, who lives in Taoyuan, is in his 60s and regularly visits the farm to buy bamboo shoots, the Taoyuan City Department of Public Health said.
The man developed a fever on Monday and sought medical attention on the same day.
However, when his symptoms persisted and he developed a rash on his lower limbs, he went to another hospital, where he tested positive for dengue fever on Wednesday, the department said.
Based on their recent movements, the CDC said that all eight most likely contracted the virus at the farm, which is believed to be the source of a cluster infection that has now reached 38 cases — 30 in Sansia, five in Taoyuan and three in other New Taipei City districts.
The center called on members of the public to seek medical assistance and provide a history of recent movements if they experience symptoms such as a fever, a headache, or muscle and joint pain.
Taiwan has reported 54 indigenous dengue fever cases this year, 34 in New Taipei City and 20 in Taoyuan, while the total number of imported cases stands at 59, mainly from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, CDC data showed.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the