Search This Blog

Friday, July 15, 2011

Taiwan : Pingtung announces year's first case of Japanese encephalitis

Via Focus Taiwan :

" The Public Health Bureau of the Pingtung County government in Southern Taiwan announced Tuesday its first case of Japanese encephalitis this year.

The victim, a 44-year-old woman residing in Pingtung City, was diagnosed with the mosquito-borne disease July 11, becoming the fourth person in Taiwan to contact the disease this year, said the bureau.

The woman began suffering from headache and fever July 4 and was hospitalized the next day, where tests confirmed that she had been infected, health officials said.

Inspections by the bureau revealed that the patient lived in proximity to rice paddies and chicken coops, which provide ideal breeding conditions for the culex mosquitoes that carry the disease.

The public should avoid rice paddies, livestock quarters, ponds and irrigation ditches at dusk, when the mosquitoes are at their most active, bureau officials said.

To lower the chances of infection, long sleeves and pants should be worn, and mosquito spray should be applied to exposed areas if activity in these places cannot be avoided, the officials added."

No comments:

Post a Comment