Parents should wash their hands thoroughly before feeding toddlers, doctors at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital said after a 10-day-old infant became critically ill due to salmonella infection.
The hospital recently admitted three cases of infants less than one year old who had serious salmonella gastroenteritis, with the youngest — 10 days old — developing serious complications, including necrotizing enterocolitis, gastrointestinal perforation, peritonitis and septicemia.
Salmonellosis is most common between July and October, and it is usually caused by eating raw or undercooked food, or drinking contaminated water, hospital deputy superintendent Chiu Cheng-hsun (邱政洵) said.
Most people with salmonellosis suffer acute gastroenteritis, and children younger than five, especially infants less than one year old, are the most susceptible to salmonella infection, he said.
Common symptoms of salmonellosis include a fever, nausea, vomiting, headache, abdominal cramps and diarrhea six to 72 hours after infection, he said, adding that some might have mucus or blood in their stool.
Healthy adults or older children can usually recover on their own without seeking medical attention, but toddlers, elderly people or people with weak immune systems might suffer serious complications, including pneumonia, septicemia, osteomyelitis, meningitis and gastrointestinal perforation, which could be fatal if left untreated or if treatment is delayed, he said.
Chickens, ducks and other poultry might have salmonella in their bodies, so people might be infected from eating raw or undercooked eggs, Chiu said.
A three-year study by the hospital’s researchers on salmonellosis cases in the nation showed that they were mainly caused by undercooked pork and chicken meat, and were directly or indirectly transmitted to humans.
As infants’ main nutrition comes from breastmilk or formula milk, the study suggests that salmonella was likely passed on by parents who did not thoroughly wash their hands after handling raw meat, or did not have separate cutting boards and knives for meat and fruit or vegetables, Chiu said.
Parents should wash their hands thoroughly, especially before preparing food or feeding toddlers, to prevent salmonellosis in children, physicians Lee Chien-chung (李建忠) and Tsai An-li (蔡安黎) said.
They also suggested preparing or storing meat in the refrigerator right after reaching home; using separate cutting boards and knives for raw and cooked food; cooking eggs and meat thoroughly; not drinking unsterilized water; and seeking immediate medical attention if a toddler has a fever, diarrhea or vomits.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods