The CDC of the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced 4 new cases of severe influenza.

(File photo, photo by reporter Lin Huiqin)

[Reporter Lin Huiqin/Report from Taipei] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced today that the activity of influenza virus in the community has continued to rise. In the past week, the number of detections has nearly doubled compared with the previous week, and 4 new cases of severe influenza have been added. Among them, the youngest is in his 10s A male high school student was diagnosed with influenza after 4 degrees of medical treatment, and was once admitted to the intensive care unit due to encephalitis. Fortunately, he was transferred to the general ward after treatment.

Zhuang Renxiang, deputy director of the CDC, said that the new severe case was a 10-year-old male high school student with no history of chronic diseases. On January 17, he had a fever and asked for leave at home. He went to the clinic for medical treatment. The high fever persisted the next day. , but the Wuhan pneumonia (new coronavirus disease, COVID-19) rapid test was negative, and he went to the hospital for emergency treatment at night, and the flu rapid test was negative, so he prescribed relief drugs and went home.

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However, on the 20th, he began to speak slowly and move stiffly. He went to the emergency department of the hospital again, but he was still not tested positive for influenza. Acute encephalomyelitis, and influenza antigen rapid screening type A positive and hospitalized, diagnosed as suspected influenza complicated by encephalitis, transferred to the intensive care unit on the 21st and used antiviral drugs, fortunately transferred to the general ward on the 23rd.

There is also a man in his 30s who has a history of diabetes and smokes a pack of cigarettes a day. He had a fever and cough on January 21. He went to the hospital on the 24th. He was screened negative for COVID-19 and had no flu test. He went to another hospital on the 26th. The quick screening was negative, but the X-ray showed pneumonia, and he was admitted to a general ward. On the 27th, he tested positive for influenza, and his condition deteriorated and he was transferred to the intensive care unit. The doctor judged that it was influenza complicated by severe illness.

The remaining cases include a woman in her 40s and a man in his 60s.

Zhuang Renxiang pointed out that except for the female case, which was type A and not typed, the other three cases were all type A H3N2, and none of them had been vaccinated against this season's influenza vaccine. Among them, three cases had a potential medical history, and the onset dates were between January 15 and 24.

Zhuang Renxiang pointed out that the accuracy of rapid influenza screening is about 60% to 80%. If the screening time is wrong, it may not be screened. Therefore, as long as the doctor suspects influenza, antiviral drugs can be provided directly without rapid screening.

Zhuang Renxiang explained that the laboratory automatic notification data shows that there are more flu notifications, 570 in the last week, nearly double the previous week, but compared with the same period before the COVID-19 epidemic, it is still a low point.

Taking severe influenza as an example, there were more than 900 cases in the same period from 2019 to 2020, more than 1,900 cases in 2018 to 2019, and now there are a total of 27 cases. It may be related to the fact that people wear masks, the flu vaccine is good, and the vaccine strain is related to the epidemic virus. It is related to the strain matching. At present, the publicly funded influenza vaccine has been given almost, and there are only about 30,000 to 40,000 doses left.

Since entering this flu season in October last year, there have been 27 cases of severe influenza, including 20 cases of type A H3N2, 2 cases of type A H1N1, 1 case of untyped A, 4 cases of type B, 11 cases of elderly people over 65 years old, 26 cases, or 96%, had not been vaccinated against this season's flu vaccine, and 18 cases, or 67%, had a history of chronic diseases; 4 of them died, including 3 cases of H3N2 and 1 case of type B, all of whom were over 65 years old with chronic diseases Elderly with medical history, and none of them have been vaccinated against influenza this season.