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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》Taiwan records most dengue cases in 6 years
A Yunlin County Government worker sprays insecticide to prevent the spread of dengue fever in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of the Yunlin County Government via CNA
ON SCENE: The CDC’s deputy director-general visited Yunlin County to oversee the disease prevention efforts after four cases there developed severe complications
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
The number of locally acquired dengue fever cases so far this year has reached the highest for the period since 2017, after 101 cases were reported last week, the Centers for Disease Control （CDC） said yesterday, adding that a cluster of infections was reported in Yunlin County, including the first severe dengue case in three years.
CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin （李佳琳） said that of the 101 cases reported last week, 92 were in Tainan, six were in Yunlin’s Gukeng Township （古坑） and three were in Kaohsiung.
Of the cases in Tainan, 47 were in Rende District （仁德） and 36 in East District （東區）, while there have been sporadic cases in five other districts, but most of the cases have been linked to the clusters in Rende and East districts, including the new cases in Kaohsiung, Lee said.
So far this year, 173 local cases have been reported, Lee said, adding that 47 percent of the cases were aged 60 or older, higher than the proportion of 26 percent recorded from 2014 to last year.
Older people have a higher risk of developing severe illness from infection, she added.
A new cluster of infections was reported in Gukeng Township last week. The six cases are aged between 50 and 80. Two of the six were infected with dengue virus type 1, which has a different genetic sequence from the virus found in Tainan.
Four of the cases, aged 60 to 90, developed severe complications and have been hospitalized, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching （林詠青） said.
A woman in her 80s — who has diabetes and chronic heart and kidney disease — was experiencing the most serious symptoms, including hemorrhaging, drowsiness, bloody stools and anemia, so she is being treated in an intensive care unit, Lin said.
“Generally, the fatality rate of dengue fever is less than 1 percent, but for high-risk groups, including elderly people and people with underlying health conditions, the fatality rate can be about 20 percent if they are untreated or treatment is delayed,” he said.
Serious complications can include plasma leakage, which can cause pleural and pericardial effusion, while dengue hemorrhagic fever can cause bleeding from the mucosa and gastrointestinal tract, and a drastic decline in a person’s platelet count, he said.
The four Yunlin cases include the first severe dengue cases to be recorded since 2020, CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui （曾淑慧） said, adding that the risk of local dengue fever infection is increasing in Taiwan.
Specialists from National Cheng Kung University Hospital in Tainan and its branch in Yunlin’s Douliou （斗六） yesterday attended a conference to discuss how best to treat severe cases, while CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo （羅一鈞） visited Yunlin to oversee the disease prevention efforts.
Chen Chin-sheng （陳錦生）, chief consultant at the National Mosquito-Borne Diseases Control Research Center, said the main carriers of dengue are the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.
The former typically breeds in containers of still water in indoor spaces, while the latter usually breeds outdoors in stagnant water in bamboo or other plants, Chen said.
People can prevent mosquito bites by wearing bright-colored long-sleeve clothing, using mosquito screens, bug zappers and insect repellents, he said, adding that repellants that contain DEET offer the best protection.
People should apply sunscreen before applying an insect repellent, to avoid reducing the repellent’s effect, he added.
Meanwhile, the CDC reported 75,076 hospital visits for flu-like illnesses, 26 cases of flu with serious complications and 11 flu-related deaths last week.
The number of flu and enterovirus cases in Taiwan remain remained at a plateau, the CDC said.
It also reported 23 new cases of mpox, including 21 local cases and two imported cases from the Philippines and Vietnam.
Fifteen of the cases are in northern Taiwan, five are in central Taiwan and three in southern Taiwan, it said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
