The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is to strengthen latent tuberculosis (TB) screening and treatment programs aimed at eradicating the disease by 2035, it said yesterday at an event held ahead of World TB Day tomorrow.
Last year, the incidence of TB in Taiwan was 28 new cases per 100,000 people, down 62 percent from 73 new cases per 100,000 people in 2005, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) told the event at Taipei Railway Station.
Health officials are urged to be vigilant in managing people known to be infected with TB, be thorough in conducting contact tracing and give particular attention to detecting suspected latent TB infections, he said.
Photo: CNA
The community spread of TB is best contained before the infected person shows symptoms, Chou said.
About 6,000 new TB cases are reported in the nation each year, CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-huai (曾淑慧) said.
The CDC is rolling out a TB screening program in collaboration with hospitals for high-risk groups, including people with poorly managed diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or who are undergoing dialysis, she said.
The program aims to screen 15,000 people by the end of the year, Tseng said.
During the height of the TB pandemic, the disease was known to kill up to seven people every day in Europe and the Americas, a situation not remedied until Robert Koch on March 24, 1882, discovered Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the germ that causes TB, she said.
Entertainer Chiang Tsu-ping (江祖平), who the CDC named as spokesperson for TB prevention, said that she had thought TB was an extinct disease from the history books, not an epidemic actively threatening the well-being of Taiwanese.
People in contact with a known TB case are urged to get screened as soon as possible to protect themselves and their loved ones, she said.
Latent TB infections have a 5 to 10 percent chance of becoming symptomatic, especially during periods of compromised immunity, Taiwan Society of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases chairman Wang Jann-yuan (王振源) said.
People should keep their homes well-aerated and lead a healthy lifestyle, while those diagnosed with TB should seek medical attention immediately, Wang said, adding that treatment can reduce infectiousness within two weeks.
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Residents have called on the Taipei City Government to reconsider its plan to demolish a four-decades-old pedestrian overpass near Daan Forest Park. The 42-year-old concrete and steel structure that serves as an elevated walkway over the intersection of Heping and Xinsheng roads is to be closed on Tuesday in preparation for demolition slated for completion by the end of the month. However, in recent days some local residents have been protesting the planned destruction of the intersection overpass that is rendered more poetically as “sky bridge” in Chinese. “This bridge carries the community’s collective memory,” said a man surnamed Chuang
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm earlier today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, in this year's Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am, the CWA said. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) with a 100km radius, it said. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA meteorologist Huang En-hung (黃恩宏) said. However, a more accurate forecast would be made on Wednesday, when Yinxing is
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