The nation’s first incident of whooping cough was reported in southern Taiwan, while the first case of hantavirus infection was reported in the north on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday.
The first case of whooping cough this year was a two-month-old baby girl, the CDC said.
The infant first exhibited symptoms of coughing and a runny nose on Jan. 2 and was hospitalized on Jan. 18 due to a worsening cough, it added.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
The CDC said the baby’s test results came back on Tuesday positive for whooping cough.
The health authorities investigating the incident, and have identified seven family members as at risk, with one already exhibiting possible symptoms, the CDC said.
The CDC said that whooping cough incidents among infants each year since 2020 stood at 5, 0, 2, 0, 33 and 1 respectively, with patients mostly being infants under three months old, or 29.3 percent, while others were children aged 13 to 19, or 24.4 percent.
The CDC said initial symptoms of whooping cough are very similar to the common cold and are easily overlooked and passed on to infants or children.
People who exhibit short bursts of severe coughs, develop a wheezing sound when they breathe, or vomit after coughing should see a doctor immediately, the CDC said.
Separately, the Taipei Department of Health on Tuesday reported the first known case of hantavirus infection this year.
A 50 year-old female in Wenshan District (文山) developed a fever, cough and dizziness on Jan. 1 after coming in contact with a rat at her work in a traditional market.
The woman was hospitalized after testing positive for hantavirus on Monday and has now been released from the hospital.
The department said confirmed infections of hantavirus nationally over the past three years stood at 5, 6 and 3 cases respectively, while cases in Taipei at the same time stood at 1, 2 and 0 cases respectively.
Hantavirus is usually spread by contact with rodents’ body fluids and excrement, and the most common form of transmission is through breathing in the virus, the department said.
The primary method of prevention is to remove the presence of rodents, and to prevent contact with rodents and their excrements, the department said.
Residences, restaurants, hotels, food stalls, food factories and traditional markets should all take stronger measures to sanitize the environment and adopt stronger rodent prevention methods, it said.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry