Ronan Kelly
Retired 2020
Taipei, June 3 (CNA) A woman in southern Taiwan's Tainan City infected with Japanese encephalitis died a day earlier, a senior health official said Thursday.
Lin Ting, deputy director-general of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said the woman might have caught the disease at the pig farm where she worked in neighboring Tainan County. The disease's carrier, Culex tritaeniorhynchus mosquitoes, were found at the farm after she was diagnosed.
The woman began showing flu-like symptoms May 18 and went to several clinics in the following days, but was not diagnosed with Japanese encephalitis until she was taken to National Cheng Kung University Hospital as her condition worsened.
Lin said the local government cleaned and sprayed pesticide in the area and urged the public to take action against mosquitoes to prevent disease transmission.
He also pointed out that inoculation is the most effective prevention against Japanese encephalitis. Children should receive four vaccinations between the age of 15 months and when they enter elementary schools, while adults can go to public hospitals to be vaccinated.
Lin said it was the second case this year. The first was reported in southernmost Pingtung County and that patient survived. The situation of the disease this year is in line with previous years, he said.
According to CDC statistics, there were 37 cases of Japanese encephalitis in 2007, with two fatalities, 17 cases in 2008 and 18 cases in 2009, with one death in the two latter years. (By Chang Jung-hsiang, Chen Li-ting and Kay Liu) ENDITEM/J
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?ID=201006030053&Type=aLIV
Lin Ting, deputy director-general of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said the woman might have caught the disease at the pig farm where she worked in neighboring Tainan County. The disease's carrier, Culex tritaeniorhynchus mosquitoes, were found at the farm after she was diagnosed.
The woman began showing flu-like symptoms May 18 and went to several clinics in the following days, but was not diagnosed with Japanese encephalitis until she was taken to National Cheng Kung University Hospital as her condition worsened.
Lin said the local government cleaned and sprayed pesticide in the area and urged the public to take action against mosquitoes to prevent disease transmission.
He also pointed out that inoculation is the most effective prevention against Japanese encephalitis. Children should receive four vaccinations between the age of 15 months and when they enter elementary schools, while adults can go to public hospitals to be vaccinated.
Lin said it was the second case this year. The first was reported in southernmost Pingtung County and that patient survived. The situation of the disease this year is in line with previous years, he said.
According to CDC statistics, there were 37 cases of Japanese encephalitis in 2007, with two fatalities, 17 cases in 2008 and 18 cases in 2009, with one death in the two latter years. (By Chang Jung-hsiang, Chen Li-ting and Kay Liu) ENDITEM/J
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?ID=201006030053&Type=aLIV