According to statistics compiled by the Centers for Disease Control in Taiwan (Taiwan CDC) on September 10, 2007, 2494 cases of notifiable infectious diseases were confirmed among patients who either had illness onset or were diagnosed in August 2007. During the same period last year (2006), 2451 cases of notifiable infectious diseases were confirmed among patients who either had illness onset or were diagnosed with an infectious disease.
None of the 2494 cases confirmed in August this year was infected with a Category 1 notifiable infectious disease. On the other hand, 299 cases were confirmed with a Category 2 notifiable infectious disease, which accounted for 12.0% of the total confirmed cases. Further, the majority of the cases, 216 out of 299, were infected with dengue fever, followed by 41 cases of shigellosis, and 20 cases of acute viral hepatitis type A. In addition, 1905 cases were infected with a Category 3 disease, which accounted for 76.4% of the total confirmed cases, and 1073 out of the 1905 cases were infected with tuberculosis, constituting the highest case number in this category, followed by 578 cases of syphilis, and 136 cases of gonorrhea. Moreover, 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, 172 cases of HIV infection were confirmed.
In August, among all imported cases of acute infectious diseases that were confirmed, dengue fever infection was the most common with a case number of 24 (9 from Philippines, 6 from Vietnam, 4 from Thailand, 2 from Cambodia, 1 each from Indonesia, Malaysia and China), followed by 4 cases of shigellosis (2 from Indonesia, 1 each from China and Vietnam), 2 cases of amoebiasis (both from Indonesia), 1 case of acute viral hepatitis type A (from Indonesia), 1 case of typhoid fever (from Russia), 1 case of malaria (from Indonesia), 1 case of scrub typhus (from China), 1 case of measles (from Japan), 1 case of legionellosis (from China), and 1 case of acute viral hepatitis type B (from China). Between January and August this year, the 3 most common acute infectious diseases imported were dengue fever, amoebiasis, and shigellosis with case numbers of 99, 40, and 34 respectively.
When compared to the average case numbers for the month of August in the previous three years, the average case numbers of the following diseases exceeded the average values from the previous three years: shigellosis, acute viral hepatitis type A, dengue fever, measles, legionellosis, pertussis, AIDS, syphilis, acute viral hepatitis unspecified and leprosy.
When compared to the average case numbers for the months of January through August in the previous three years, the average case numbers of the following diseases exceeded the average values from the previous three years: amoebiasis, dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome, Japanese encephalitis, scrub typhus, congenital rubella syndrome, meningococcal meningitis, measles, influenza severe case, pertussis, rubella, mumps, AIDS, syphilis, acute viral hepatitis unspecified and leprosy.