Women with enterovirus symptoms, such as fever, respiratory issues or diarrhea, should not breastfeed babies younger than 3 months, to keep the virus from spreading, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said in a statement yesterday.
The CDC said it made the recommendation based on the conclusions made during its meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.
Breastfeeding can resume once the mother recovers, it said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
Current guidelines do not warn against virus transmission via breast milk from infected mothers, and simply suggest that mothers who might have the infection avoid direct contact with their babies and have healthy family members feed the breast milk to infants through bottles, the CDC said.
Guidelines for caring for newborns — babies younger than 1 month — would be updated to better protect them from enterovirus infections, it said.
As of yesterday, Taiwan had reported seven severe enterovirus cases this year, the CDC said, adding that there were five deaths, four of which involved newborn infants.
All severe cases involving newborns were caused by the echovirus 11, the first such diagnosis in Taiwan since 2018.
However, the genetic sequence of this year’s echovirus 11 cases differed from those in 2018, the CDC said.
The current strains are genetically similar to those that were found in Europe in 2022 and 2023, and in Japan last year, suggesting that the ongoing outbreak might have originated from those regions, it added.
Taiwan Society of Neonatology president Yang San-nan (楊生湳) on Wednesday said that echovirus 11 infections tend to progress rapidly, attacking the liver, heart and kidneys, then the brain, which could lead to septic shock within a day.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
CASE: Prosecutors have requested heavy sentences, citing a lack of remorse and the defendants’ role in ‘undermining the country’s democratic foundations’ Five people affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), including senior staff from the party’s Taipei branch, were indicted yesterday for allegedly forging thousands of signatures to recall two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. Those indicted include KMT Taipei chapter director Huang Lu Chin-ru (黃呂錦茹), secretary-general Chu Wen-ching (初文卿) and secretary Yao Fu-wen (姚富文), the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said in a news release. Prosecutors said the three were responsible for fabricating 5,211 signature forms — 2,537 related to the recall of DPP Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) and 2,674 for DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) — with forged entries accounting for
RSS