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CDC on alert about pneumonia risk
The Centers for Disease Control has issued a health alert instructing medical professionals to be on alert to the risk of mycoplasma pneumonia spreading to Taiwan.
The warning comes amid a surge in respiratory infections such as influenza and clusters of pneumonia among children in northern China.
CDC notes that flu-like illnesses accounted for 6.2% of all reported cases at hospitals in northern China, representing a 2.5-fold increase over the same period during the previous three years.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Luo says China began reporting mycoplasma pneumonia outbreaks in May but an epidemic usually reaches its peak in 2 to 3 months, and there could be multiple known pathogens circulating there.
Although Luo says the possibility of China-based Taiwanese businesspeople who travel between the two sides spreading the bacteria is relatively low, he believes the development of the epidemic in China requires further observation.
Doctors are being asked to closely monitor cases of respiratory illness to prevent cluster infections at hospitals here in Taiwan.
