Caterpillar hairs blown by a northeast monsoon are causing skin rashes in Penghu County, doctors said on Thursday.
Lee Chih-hung (李志宏) of Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital said that when doctors met to discuss an outbreak of rashes on Tuesday, 15 out of 21 patients had skin lesions, with the earliest case occurring on Friday last week.
The patients do not have the kind of small prickly rashes commonly associated with insect bites, or patches of rashes that develop from allergies, Lee said.
Photo courtesy of Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
After Penghu County Department of Health Director Hsiao Ching-jung (蕭靜蓉) said there had been an increase in Taiwan yellow tussock moth larvae, doctors determined that the conditions were caused by caterpillar hairs carried by the wind.
While caterpillar hair was not found on the patients, it could have already been blown away after causing a reaction, Lee said, adding that large quantities of caterpillar hair throughout Penghu County could cause rashes.
Chang Chung-hsing (張中興), a physician at Tri-Service General Hospital’s Penghu branch, concurred, adding that the rashes occurred mostly in areas not covered by clothing.
People with the rashes can run a small, gentle stream of water over the affected area to alleviate discomfort, or place a cold compress over it, he said.
Ointment could help the area heal faster, he said, adding that for patients with a rash over a large area of skin, doctors should consider prescribing antihistamines.
The department said it asked city and township branches to monitor the situation, and issued warnings to communities and schools that people should wear long-sleeve clothing to cover as much skin as possible.
Additional reporting by Wang Chin-yi and Chiu Chih-jou
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS