Tuberculosis deaths in Taiwan average 600 per year: CDC

Taipei, June 29 (CNA) The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Wednesday that tuberculosis is the most deadly notifiable disease in Taiwan, killing some 600 people per year.

On average, 11,000 people in Taiwan are diagnosed each year with tuberculosis and 600 of those cases result in death, the CDC said at international seminar in Taipei on multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

CDC officials said the number of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis cases in Taiwan had fallen from 440 in 2007 to 184 in 2015, thanks to a program to halve the number in the period 2005-2015.

The program had a 77 success rate, as evidenced by the fact that only 0.8 percent of new tuberculosis patients last year were found to be drug-resistant, according to CDC data.

The officials said the CDC has launched a program aimed at eliminating the notifiable disease in Taiwan over the next five years by offering free drugs to multi-drug resistant patients.

Chan Pei-chun, an infectious disease expert at the CDC, said that people who come into contact with tuberculosis patients should have relevant health checks every six months for two years to ensure that they have not contracted the disease.

A total of 130 medical experts and officials from 14 countries attended the seminar, which was hosted by the CDC and sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).