According to statistics compiled by the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC), 2355 cases of notifiable infectious diseases were confirmed among patients who had illness onset (the number of chronic disease cases determined and included in the statistics was based on the day of diagnosis) in July, 2008. During the same period in 2007, 2694 cases of notifiable infectious diseases were confirmed among patients who had illness onset (the number of chronic disease cases determined and included in the statistics was based on the day of diagnosis) with an infectious disease.
None of the 2355 cases confirmed in July this year was infected with a Category 1 or Category 5 notifiable infectious disease. On the other hand, 110 cases were confirmed with a Category 2 notifiable infectious disease. Further, the majority of the cases, 72 out of 110, were infected with dengue fever, followed by 13 cases of hepatitis A, and 11 cases of amoebiasis. In addition, 1901 cases were infected with a Category 3 disease and 1130 out of the 1901 cases were infected with tuberculosis, constituting the highest case number in this category, followed by 566 cases of syphilis, and 120 cases of gonorrhea. Moreover, 123 cases were infected with a Category 4 disease and 72 out of the 123 cases were infected with scrub typhus, constituting the highest case number in this category, followed by 30 cases of invasive pneumococcal disease, and 8 cases of melioidosis. Furthermore, 157 cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and 64 cases of AIDS were confirmed.
In July, 56 confirmed cases of infectious diseases were imported. Dengue fever infection was the most common with a case number of 38, followed by 4 cases of amoebiasis, 2 cases of hepatitis A, 2 cases of malaria, 2 cases of rubella, 2 cases of typhoid fever, and so on.
When compared to the average case numbers for the month of July in the previous three years, the average case numbers of the following diseases exceeded the average values from the previous three years: legionellosis, pertussis, enteroviruses infection with severe complications, hepatitis unspecified, etc.