The numbers of visits to outpatient services and ER for enterovirus infection have continued to increase, signaling the peak of enterovirus season is just around the corner. The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) stresses that infants and children aged below 5 are at increased risk of developing enterovirus infection with severe complications. Hence, caregivers of children are urged to maintain personal hygiene and pay attention to prodromal symptoms of severe enterovirus infection in children to ensure timely treatment.

Taiwan CDC warns that enterovirus is highly contagious, especially in crowded places such as households and child care facilities where clusters often occur. Taiwan CDC also reminds the public to clean and disinfect the environment and toys and objects children play with regularly and educate children the importance of cleanliness in maintaining health in order to prevent disease transmission. In addition, when a child in a household is diagnosed with enterovirus infection, please refrain the sick child from close contact with other children to reduce further transmission.

According to surveillance data collected by Taiwan CDC, the ER consultation rate for enterovirus infection during Week 18 increased from that during the previous week. During the recent four weeks, the numbers of people seeking ER for enterovirus infection respectively are 314, 307, 427, and 465, while the numbers of people seeking outpatient services for enterovirus infection respectively are 5,426, 6,672, 8,025, and 10,340. At the moment, the ER consultation rate for enterovirus infection (3.80‰) is higher than the epidemic threshold (2.70 ‰). Coxsackie A virus is currently the dominant strain circulating in the community, accounting for approximately 64.0% of all cases. Thus far, one severe case of enterovirus infection caused by CB 5 virus has been confirmed. Taiwan CDC will continue to monitor the development of the epidemic and the dominant virus strain variation.

Taiwan CDC urge parents to pay close attention to the symptoms of the sick child. Once the sick child develops suspected symptoms such as drowsiness, disturbed consciousness, inactivity, flaccid paralysis, myoclonic jerk, continuous vomiting, tachypnea, and tachycardia, please take the child to a large hospital immediately in order to ensure prompt treatment. For more information on enterovirus, please visit the Taiwan CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Care Hotline, 1922 (or 0800-001922).