A doctor on Monday warned travelers against accepting food, medicine or other ingestibles from unknown sources, after a teenager accidentally ingested drugs from a suspicious e-cigarette.
While on vacation in Pingtung County’s Kenting (墾丁) with his family, the 17-year-old set off on his own to explore a night market.
He accepted a stranger’s offer to take a drag from a vape pen that might have contained amphetamines, as he afterward began feeling overstimulated.
After returning to their hotel, his parents found him to be limp and unintelligible, and rushed him to Heng Chun Christian Hospital, where emergency room doctors were unable to return him to a normal state.
After ruling out a stroke, bleeding or trauma from accidental ingestion, they gave him sedatives and kept him overnight for observation.
The next day, he regained consciousness and was discharged after doctors determined his condition to be stable.
As the nation enters peak travel season, Lin Tzu-chun (林子峻), the hospital’s emergency room lead doctor, advised travelers to stay on high alert.
Special care should be given to personal safety, he said, suggesting for example keeping food and beverages within eyesight at all times.
Food, beverages and other ingestibles of unknown origin should never be consumed, Lin said.
If vomiting, heart palpitations, perception changes, mood swings or other symptoms occur after ingesting something suspicious, Lin recommended seeking emergency hospital treatment immediately.
Do not delay seeking help and be honest about the situation to help doctors provide the most effective treatment, he added.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
INTEL: China’s ships are mapping strategic ocean floors, including near Guam, which could aid undersea cable targeting and have military applications, a report said China’s oceanographic survey and research ships are collecting data in the Indo-Pacific region — possibly to aid submarine navigation, detect or map undersea cables, and lay naval mines — activities that could have military applications in a conflict with Taiwan or the US, a New York Times report said. The article, titled “China Surveys Seabeds Where Naval Rivals May One Day Clash,” was written by Chris Buckley and published on Thursday. Starboard Maritime Intelligence data revealed that Chinese research ships last year repeatedly scanned the ocean floor east of Taiwan’s maritime border, and about 400km east and west of Guam; “waters that
RSS