The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported this year’s first indigenous typhoid fever case in Taiwan.
The patient is a teenage girl who lives in central Taiwan, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said.
The girl developed a fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea on Feb. 2, but she was diagnosed with viral gastroenteritis when she sought medical treatment.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
The fever did not abate, and she was hospitalized on Feb. 8, before being discharged on Feb. 11, Guo said.
She sought medical treatment several times as she still experienced symptoms including a fever, coughing, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea after being discharged, he said.
As the symptoms did not abate, the girl was referred to another hospital for further examination on Tuesday last week and was diagnosed with typhoid fever, Guo said.
She is still hospitalized for treatment, he added.
The girl’s family and close contacts at her school did not show any symptoms, so the local health department is tracing food products and other contacts to find the source of infection, Guo said.
The case is considered a locally transmitted case, as the girl had not recently been to another country, he said.
CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said typhoid fever is a bacterial infection of the intestinal tract caused by Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi bacteria, which have an incubation period of about eight to 14 days, but it could also be from three to 60 days.
Typhoid fever is transmitted by consuming raw or undercooked food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, he said.
Common symptoms include persistent fever, a headache, abdominal pain, diarrhea and coughing, he added.
Typhoid fever can usually be treated with antibiotic medication in about one to two weeks, but the case fatality rate can reach 10 percent if left untreated, Lin said.
To prevent typhoid fever infection, people should frequently wash their hands with soap and water — especially before meals and after using the toilet — avoid drinking untreated water and avoid eating raw or undercooked food, Lin added.
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