A total of 146,793 diarrhea cases were reported across the nation last week, including 6,147 emergency cases, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said, adding that the figure could rise further.
The number of viral gastroenteritis cases usually increases before the Mid-Autumn Festival, which this year falls on Monday next week, the CDC said on Monday.
The number of emergency cases during the Mid-Autumn Festival week totaled 8,480 in 2016 and 7,087 last year, it said.
Those figures were higher than the number of cases reported in the week before the holiday: 5,850 in 2016 and 6,064 last year.
People should practice good personal and food hygiene when attending parties, family gatherings or barbecues during the holidays, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.
People should wash their hands frequently, keep food at safe temperatures, separate raw and cooked food, and cook meat, poultry, eggs and seafood thoroughly, Chuang added.
Separately, the CDC said that there were two confirmed cases of measles in northern Taiwan last week, and the hospital treating them is suspected of delaying its report.
Two men in their 30s were infected: One contracted it in Taiwan, while the other was likely infected in Thailand, CDC physician Huang Wan-ting (黃婉婷) said.
The two men sought treatment on Aug. 23 and Sept. 1 at the same hospital, which reported the cases to the CDC 15 days and eights days after the onset of symptoms respectively.
The CDC has asked the local health department to investigate whether the hospital is at fault for the delay in reporting.
The Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) states that doctors who discover a suspected notifable infectious disease should immediately take infection control measures and report it to the local health department, Chuang said.
Hospitals should report a suspected measles case within 24 hours, she added.
One of the men took the MRT on Sept. 1, traveling on the Wenhu Line (文湖線) and Bannan Line (板南線), and got on or off at Fuzhong Station, Banciao Station, Zhongxiao-Xinsheng Station, Zhongxiao-Fuxing Station or Daan Station between 2pm and 7pm.
A total of 352 people who have had direct contact with the two men during their communicability periods did not have suspected measles symptoms, she said.
People who have taken the MRT during the aforementioned period and who show measles-like symptoms — fever, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, coughing and rashes — should put on a mask and seek treatment, Huang said.
Early symptoms of measles might be similar to other diseases, but the CDC encourages health workers to report any suspected cases, Huang said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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