Wed, Aug 09, 2023 page2

• Dengue cases top 1,100, vaccine policy defended

  EFFECTIVE PROTECTION: The CDC said that 66 percent of the 21,000 people who died of COVID-19 had not received three doses of vaccine or were unvaccinated

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that 264 locally acquired dengue fever cases were reported last week, including the first cases reported in Miaoli and Chiayi counties.

  CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said 229 cases were in Tainan, 20 in Yunlin County, six in Kaohsiung, five in Chiayi County, two in Pingtung County, and one each in Taichung and Miaoli County.

  With the first cases reported in Chiayi and Miaoli counties, domestic dengue fever cases have been reported in eight cities or counties this year, Lee said, adding that there have been an accumulated 1,109 local cases this year, as of Monday, with most in Tainan (920 cases), followed by Yunlin County (135 cases) and Kaohsiung (38 cases).

  

  Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times

  CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said that accumulated cases had exceeded 1,000 in about two months, which is concerning, because in 2015, when Taiwan experienced one of the most severe dengue fever outbreaks with more than 43,000 cases, the first local case was reported on May 10, but it took about three months (97 days) to accumulate more than 1,000 cases.

  CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said no severe dengue fever complications were reported last week, but three previous severe cases are still hospitalized, including two people in Tainan whose conditions have improved, while a woman in her 70s in Yunlin County is still in intensive care with septic shock, respiratory distress and thrombocytopenia with hemorrhaging.

  While approximately 75 percent of dengue fever infections do not show any symptoms, about 5 percent might develop severe illness, with infants, elderly people, pregnant women, obese people and people with chronic illnesses having a higher risk, he said, adding that reinfection with different dengue serotypes also significantly increases the risk of developing severe complications.

  Lin said most individuals with symptomatic dengue infection start with a fever for about two to seven days, but they should watch for warning signs of severe dengue fever — stomach pain, repeated vomiting, bleeding from the nose or gums, drowsiness, restlessness or irritability — which usually begin 24 to 48 hours after the fever goes away.

  The CDC also reported seven new local cases of mpox last week, as well as an average of 74 hospitalized COVID-19 cases per day, which is 17 percent lower than the previous week.

  The CDC restated that vaccination is an effective method to protect against COVID-19, despite an academic’s claim that vaccines cause more harm than good.

  Former department of health minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) wrote an op-ed in a local Chinese-language newspaper on Saturday that said the government encouraging people to get COVID-19 vaccination “is to seek power, gain profit and murdering lives.”

  He said the vaccine does more harm than good, so the government is unwise to promote vaccination when the disease has gradually become more like seasonal influenza.

  Tseng yesterday said that the government’s COVID-19 vaccination policy was put in place after referencing large-scale clinical trial results, recommendations from the WHO, the US CDC, the European CDC and the vaccination policies of many nations, as well as suggestions by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

  Statistics show that 77 percent of the population have received at least three doses of a vaccine and of the more than 21,000 deaths from COVID-19, 13,835 people (66 percent) did not receive three doses or were unvaccinated, she said.

  Tseng said the “+1” principle vaccination policy encourages unvaccinated people, people who have not received a third dose or people who have not received an Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted vaccine to receive a dose of the vaccine, especially people aged 65 or older, as they have a higher risk of developing severe illness.
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