According to statistics compiled by the Centers for Disease Control in Taiwan (Taiwan CDC), 1625 cases of notifiable infectious diseases were confirmed among patients who had illness onset in February, 2008. During the same period in 2007, 1615 cases of notifiable infectious diseases were confirmed among patients who had illness onset with an infectious disease.
None of the 1625 cases confirmed in February this year was infected with a Category 1 or Category 5 notifiable infectious disease. On the other hand, 73 cases were confirmed with a Category 2 notifiable infectious disease, which accounted for 4.49% of the total confirmed cases. Further, the majority of the cases, 27 out of 73, were infected with amoebiasis, followed by 22 cases of acute viral hepatitis type A, and 8 cases of shigellosis. In addition, 1297 cases were infected with a Category 3 disease, which accounted for 79.82% of the total confirmed cases, and 811 out of the 1297 cases were infected with tuberculosis, constituting the highest case number in this category, followed by 354 cases of syphilis, and 107 cases of gonorrhea. Moreover, 87 cases were infected with a Category 4 disease, which accounted for 5.35% of the total confirmed cases, and 75 out of the 87 cases were infected with invasive pneumococcal disease, constituting the highest case number in this category, followed by 5 cases of scrub typhus, 2 cases of severe influenza, and 2 cases of botulism. Furthermore, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection was the most prevalent among the confirmed cases affected by a disease from the category of other designated infectious diseases. More specifically, 114 cases of HIV infection were confirmed.
In February, 21 confirmed cases of infectious diseases were imported, dengue fever infection was the most common with a case number of 7 (3 from Indonesia, 1 from Malaysia, 1 from the Philippines, 1 from Vietnam, and 1 from an unknown country of origin), followed by 4 cases of amoebiasis (3 from Indonesia, and 1 from the Philippines), 4 cases of shigellosis (all from Indonesia) , 3 cases of malaria (1 from India, 1 from Papua New Guinea and 1 from Equatorial Guinea), 1 case of typhoid fever(from Indonesia), 1 cases of mumps (from China) , 1 cases of chikungunya fever (from Indonesia). Between January and February this year, the three most common infectious diseases imported were dengue fever, amoebiasis, and shigellosis with case numbers of 13, 11, and 6 respectively.
When compared to the average case numbers for the month of February in the previous three years, the average case numbers of the following diseases exceeded the average values from the previous three years: amoebiasis, enteroviruses infection complicated sever case, acute viral hepatitis type A, acute flaccid paralysis, malaria, chikungunya fever, endemic fever, leptospirosis, Mumps, invasive pneumococcal disease, acute viral hepatitis unspecified, syphilis, gonorrhea and AIDS.
When compared to the average case numbers for the months of January through February in the previous three years, the average case numbers of the following diseases exceeded the average values from the previous three years: amoebiasis, paratyphoid fever, enteroviruses infection complicated sever case, acute viral hepatitis type A, acute flaccid paralysis, malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya fever, scrub typhus, meningococcal meningitis, measles, mumps, invasive pneumococcal disease, acute viral hepatitis unspecified, leptospirosis, syphilis, gonorrhea and AIDS.