tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Taipei, May 7 (CNA) The number of seasonal influenza type-B cases has continued to increase as summer approaches, with most cases being reported by schools, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.
Ten cluster infections of the flu have been reported in Taiwan over the past month, with eight of them confirmed as influenza B and two as influenza A (H1N1), said Lin Ting, deputy director-general of the DOH's Centers for Disease Control.
Most of the eight type-B infections involved students, Lin said.
Of them, two brothers in eastern Taiwan, aged 11 and 14, were hospitalized with a fever, cough, and muscle aches and diagnosed with influenza B, Lin noted. They later recovered and were discharged.
Meanwhile, according to Lee Jen-chih, a chest specialist with the Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital in Hualien and the head of the DOH medical service network in eastern Taiwan, the number of seasonal flu cases has been on the rise in the eastern counties of Hualien and Taitung since April.
"Most of the patients were junior high school students who were not covered under a free seasonal flu shot program last year, " Lee said.
On whether the existing type-B flu found around the island was of the Brisbane strain -- a strain that was discovered in seasonal flu samples tested last winter -- Lee said that will be known for another two weeks, when the results of lab tests are made available.
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aLIV&ID=201005070032
Ten cluster infections of the flu have been reported in Taiwan over the past month, with eight of them confirmed as influenza B and two as influenza A (H1N1), said Lin Ting, deputy director-general of the DOH's Centers for Disease Control.
Most of the eight type-B infections involved students, Lin said.
Of them, two brothers in eastern Taiwan, aged 11 and 14, were hospitalized with a fever, cough, and muscle aches and diagnosed with influenza B, Lin noted. They later recovered and were discharged.
Meanwhile, according to Lee Jen-chih, a chest specialist with the Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital in Hualien and the head of the DOH medical service network in eastern Taiwan, the number of seasonal flu cases has been on the rise in the eastern counties of Hualien and Taitung since April.
"Most of the patients were junior high school students who were not covered under a free seasonal flu shot program last year, " Lee said.
On whether the existing type-B flu found around the island was of the Brisbane strain -- a strain that was discovered in seasonal flu samples tested last winter -- Lee said that will be known for another two weeks, when the results of lab tests are made available.
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aLIV&ID=201005070032