About 900 people have been listed as close contacts of a student at National Taiwan University (NTU) who was diagnosed with tuberculosis, a case authorities have determined as an isolated infection rather than a cluster, Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting, Shih said that after a foreign student at NTU was diagnosed with tuberculosis, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Taipei Department of Health drew up a list of close contacts to monitor their health.
Shih said that those who spent more than eight hours in the same space as the infected student on a single day, or had more than 40 hours of cumulative contact, were listed as close contacts.
Photo: CNA
Possible contacts would get chest X-rays and have their blood drawn to check for infection, including latent cases, Shih said, adding that cooperating with the screening is required by law.
Shih said the number of close contacts is relatively high, as authorities traced exposure back to the student’s time of diagnosis and arrival in Taiwan.
Nevertheless, he reiterated that the case is being treated as a single infection rather than a cluster.
CDC spokesman Lin Min-cheng (林明誠) said he could not confirm when the student arrived in Taiwan, but added that the infectious period has lasted more than three months, contributing to the high number of close contacts.
The origin of the infection is still being investigated, Lin said.
According to the WHO, tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria that most often affects the lungs and can spread through the air when people with the disease cough or sneeze.
As of Dec. 3, the CDC had identified 5,019 cases in Taiwan this year.
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