According to statistics compiled by the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC), 2332 cases of notifiable infectious diseases were confirmed among patients who had illness onset in April, 2008. During the same period in 2007, 2110 cases of notifiable infectious diseases were confirmed among patients who had illness onset with an infectious disease.
None of the 2332 cases confirmed in April this year was infected with a Category 1 or Category 5 notifiable infectious disease. On the other hand, 100 cases were confirmed with a Category 2 notifiable infectious disease, which accounted for 4.29% of the total confirmed cases. Further, the majority of the cases, 26 out of 100, were infected with hepatitis A, followed by 19 cases of shigellosis, and 15 cases of amoebiasis. In addition, 1895 cases were infected with a Category 3 disease, which accounted for 81.26% of the total confirmed cases, and 1158 out of the 1895 cases were infected with tuberculosis, constituting the highest case number in this category, followed by 545 cases of syphilis, and 113 cases of gonorrhea. Moreover, 95 cases were infected with a Category 4 disease, which accounted for 4.07% of the total confirmed cases, and 66 out of the 95 cases were infected with invasive pneumococcal disease, constituting the highest case number in this category, followed by 12 cases of scrub typhus, and 8 cases of Q fever. 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, 172 cases of HIV infection were confirmed.
In April, 34 confirmed cases of infectious diseases were imported. Dengue fever infection was the most common with a case number of 13 (5 from Indonesia, 4 from Vietnam, 2 from Tonga, 1 from Thailand, and 1 from Malaysia), followed by 6 cases of amoebiasis (4 from Indonesia, 1 from China, and 1 case with infection of unknown origin), 4 cases of acute hepatitis A (3 from China, and 1 from Indonesia), 2 cases of shigellosis (both from Cambodia), 2 cases of typhoid fever (both from Indonesia), 2 cases of measles (1 from China, and 1 from Japan), 1 case of malaria (from Papua New Guinea), 1 case of Chikungunya fever (from Indonesia), 1 case of acute hepatitis B (from Vietnam), 1 case of rubella (from Malaysia), and 1 case of endemic typhus fever (from Singapore). Between January and April this year, 113 confirmed cases of infectious diseases were imported. The three most common infectious diseases imported during this period were dengue fever, amoebiasis, and shigellosis with case numbers of 36, 26, and 15 respectively.
When compared to the average case numbers for the month of April in the previous three years, the average case numbers of the following diseases exceeded the average values from the previous three years: shigellosis, amoebiasis, enteroviruses infection with severe complications, acute hepatitis A, acute flaccid paralysis, botulism, dengue fever, chikungunya fever, measles, legionellosis, rubella, invasive pneumococcal disease, AIDS, syphilis, acute viral hepatitis unspecified, leptospirosis, melioidosis and leprosy.
When compared to the average case numbers for the months of January through April in the previous three years, the average case numbers of the following diseases exceeded the average values from the previous three years: shigellosis, amoebiasis, typhoid fever, enteroviruses infection with severe complications, acute hepatitis A, acute flaccid paralysis, botulism, dengue fever, chikungunya fever, scrub typhus, meningococcal meningitis, measles, legionellosis, invasive haemophilus influenzae type b infection, rubella, invasive pneumococcal disease, AIDS, syphilis, gonorrhea, hantavirus hemorrhagic fever, acute hepatitis C, acute viral hepatitis unspecified, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, leptospirosis, melioidosis and leprosy.