Taiwan enters enterovirus endemic period: CDC

Taipei, April 23 (CNA) Over 11,000 people infected with enterovirus visited the doctor last week, the highest number of patients for the same period in the past decade, said the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Tuesday, as Taiwan entered an enterovirus epidemic period.

From April 14 to April 20, a total of 11,643 people sought medical attention due to enterovirus infection, an increase of 22.3 percent from the previous week's 9,518 visits to the doctor, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Kuo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said.

"An enterovirus epidemic period has begun in Taiwan, and we have observed that Coxsackie A viruses are the major viral strains circulating within the community," Kuo said, adding that the threshold to classify the onset of an enterovirus epidemic period is set at 11,000 hospital visits per week.

No reports of severe enterovirus cases were made last week, and only one severe enterovirus case has been reported this year, which involved a patient infected by Coxsackievirus A10 who has now recovered, Kuo added.

Meanwhile, Taiwan reported 14 new cases of dengue fever last week, comprising seven domestic cases recorded in the southern city of Kaohsiung and seven imported cases, with six originating in Indonesia and one from the Maldives, according to the CDC.

While no severe cases of dengue fever were reported last week, Kuo anticipates that more cases will be reported this week due to the rainfall around various counties and cities.

CDC spokesperson Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said that a total of 162 domestic cases of dengue fever have been reported this year, emphasizing that the high temperatures in southern Taiwan are conducive to the breeding of mosquitoes, the vector for dengue fever, while urging the public to actively eliminate breeding sources to reduce the risk of dengue fever outbreaks.

Meanwhile, the CDC said that a total of 87,742 people with influenza-like symptoms visited the doctor last week, adding that the domestic influenza epidemic has passed its peak and is now in a declining phase.

However, four fatalities caused by the flu were reported last week, one of which was an 8-year-old girl who received the influenza vaccine in October last year, but died from complications from acute necrotizing encephalitis and organ failure, according to the CDC.