Taiwan hit by melioidosis outbreak in wake of Typhoon Gaemi

Taiwan hit by melioidosis outbreak in wake of Typhoon Gaemi

2024-08-13

In the wake of Typhoon Gaemi, Taiwan has been hit by an outbreak of melioidosis. This is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium that thrives in muddy water. The CDC says 19 new cases were confirmed last week, bringing the total to 30. So far, three people have died from the disease.

Wu Hao-hsin
Physician
The deceased were aged 54 to 89. They developed symptoms about a week after the typhoon passed. Among the three fatalities, two were women and one was a man. They died within 0 to 15 days of the disease’s onset.

Philip Lo
CDC deputy director-general
Last week, there were 19 new cases of melioidosis. So since Typhoon Gaemi, we’ve seen 30 cases. The case count so far this year is already the highest for the period since 2006. But we do expect a clear decline in melioidosis cases starting this week.

According to the CDC, the incubation period of melioidosis is two to four weeks, so isolated cases could still appear in the near term. If you experience symptoms like a fever or headache, you’re advised to get medical attention immediately, and to inform your doctor of any recent exposure to contaminated water.

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凱米颱風過境掀"類鼻疽疫情" 2週累計30例包含3死

2024-08-13

凱米颱風過後，國內爆發新一波類鼻疽疫情，今天(13日)疾管署宣布，上周再新增19例確診，目前已累積30例，包括重災區高雄23例、台南市4例，台中市2例以及嘉義縣1例，還造成三名患者死亡。

[[疾管署防疫醫師鄔豪欣]]
“死亡個案他的年紀大概在54到89歲之間，大概在颱風過後，大概一周左右開始發病，3例中有兩名的女性，一名的男性，大概在發病0到15天之內”

[[疾管署副署長羅一鈞]]
“上周類鼻疽本土個案再新增19例，所以凱米颱風之後，累積到現在已經總計有30例個案。今年累積的類鼻疽個案總數，已經是2006年以來的同期新高，預計大概這個禮拜開始，類鼻疽的確診數就會明顯下降”

由於類鼻疽潛伏期通常為2到4周，疾管署不排除後續仍會有零星個案，提醒民眾一旦出現發燒、頭痛等相關症狀，務必盡速就醫，並告知是否有污水接觸史，及早獲得妥善治療。

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The last of Taiwan’s Olympic team flew home on Tuesday, escorted by a trio of F-16Vs. The group included bronze medalists Chen Nien-chin and Wu Shih-yi. There was also Lin Yu-ting, who won Taiwan’s first-ever Olympic gold in boxing. In a special flight announcement, the pilot thanked Team Taiwan for making the country proud.

With the Paris Olympics concluded, Taiwan’s last group of Olympians returned home Tuesday. In a special flight announcement, the pilot thanked Team Taiwan for making the nation proud. She gave a shoutout to boxer Lin Yu-ting, who responded to the uproar over her gender by winning gold.

As the announcement celebrated the athletes, F-16Vs accompanied the plane outside, releasing flares in a hero’s welcome. The athletes pulled out their phones to capture the moment, all smiles as they watched on.

Tseng Tzu-chiang
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Due to the pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics were much more restrictive. It wasn’t like how it is on this flight, so joyful and carefree. I think that’s very cool. Thank you Mr. President for supporting us. Thank you.

Taiwan won two golds and five bronzes in Paris, its second-best haul of all time. As had been done after Tokyo, the president sent three F-16s to escort the return flight. He also recorded a video, in which he congratulated the athletes and encouraged other passengers to celebrate them.

Lai Ching-te
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They exemplified the spirit of fighting to the very end. Not only have they inspired us, they’ve also united Taiwan.

From the flight announcement to the president’s message, it was one surprise after another, creating a flurry of excitement onboard. Even the pilot wasn’t immune to the atmosphere.

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It was such a great honor to bring our Olympic heroes home today. My gratitude to them all.

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There were flares at the end of the flight. It was so exciting.

With the Summer Games behind them, the athletes can finally unwind for a break. But soon, many will be right back to training, to win glory for Taiwan at the 2026 Asian Games.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
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What’s next for Lin Yu-ting after historic Olympic win?

Taiwan’s last batch of Olympians returned home at 7 in the morning. The athletes were welcomed by cheering supporters at Taoyuan International Airport. Gold medalist Lin Yu-ting signed autographs for a throng of fans. What’s next for the Olympic star? She’s been appointed a professor at Chinese Culture University, but she says her top priority is catching up on sleep.

Taiwan boxer Lin Yu-ting is back from the Paris Olympics after nabbing a gold medal in the women’s featherweight division. She was among the last batch of athletes who returned home Tuesday morning.

Fans packed the arrivals hall, cheering for the athletes. Lin stopped to sign autographs and take photos.

Lin Yu-ting
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A lot of things happened. I was focused on the competition, so I shut off all my social media apps. I was focusing on doing well. After all, as an athlete you have to have your head in the game. In the end I secured the highest honor, and showcased the strength of the Taiwanese spirit.

Lin’s path to gold wasn’t easy. She faced relentless scrutiny over her gender, but responded to her critics by winning four straight matches. Now that the pressure’s off, Lin says she’d like to rest.

Lin Yu-ting
Olympic gold medalist
What I want to do now is eat a big meal. Eat whatever I want and drink whatever I want. I want to spend some quality time with my bed before getting back to work.

Also returning on Tuesday were two bronze medalists: boxers Wu Shih-yi and Chen Nien-chin, who were also eager for some time off.

Chen Nien-chin
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It’s a lot of pressure preparing for the Olympics. So I want to give my coach a break. Of course I’ll be taking some time off.

Wu Shih-yi
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My performance had room for improvement. I really like boxing, so I will continue working hard to make it to the Olympics again.

The athletes say they’ll take some time off from the ring, before diving back into training for the Asian Games and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

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Sports mean big business as Olympics spark wave of sports mania

The Paris Olympics have sparked off a wave of sports mania! These Games have provoked a spike in interest in lots of sports, including boxing and badminton. That means the industry is booming, and more and more people are making sport their business. A jobseekers’ website survey showed that 65% of office workers have a regular exercise habit. There are more and more job listings for sports-related industries.

Minla crouches down in time with the music, her core engaged, and lands a series of punches. Six years ago, the 23-year-old gave up her office job to switch to full-time boxing fitness coaching. Her working day is an hour shorter but she’s earning NT$10,000 more a month.

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If I put in more time, and make my classes richer, then I will definitely get more students. And my income will of course increase too. The salary in this career doesn’t seem to have any ceiling right now. Right now, there’s more demand for coaches than supply.

The sky’s the limit for fitness coaches’ earnings, which is why Minla decided to make a career out of her passion. Student inquiries have shot up about 15% thanks to Paris Olympics fever.

With the boost from Taiwan’s badminton team winning a gold, this part-time badminton coach of seven years, Peter, says that summer school badminton coaches can expect an income boost of 150%. Peter also works as a private English tutor and a marketing consultant, and his various freelance ventures reliably earn him more than NT$100,000 a month.

Peter
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Before, I was earning around NT$20,000-30,000 a month from badminton. Since the Olympic wave began, that’s grown to NT$30,000 or NT$40,000, or sometimes approaching NT$50,000, depending on the schedules of the students.

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The backend database of Job Bank reveals that since one point three years ago, during the pandemic, the number of sport-related job listings has grown by about 15%. There are now more than 3,000 such listings. The sport trend of recent years has been steadily growing, and that means we have more and more fitness coaches who are working part-time, have a portfolio career, or indeed have moved into the field full-time.

Sport is the new hot trend. More than 80% of office workers have been paying attention to the Olympic Games this summer. Sixty-five percent of them have a habit of exercise, and on average, people adopt a regular exercise habit at the age of 31.6 years. The average spend on sports is NT$2,867 per month, and that’s pumping up the employment opportunities in related industries.

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Pharmacist advises lowering head when swallowing capsule pills

When taking medicine, most people tip their head back and wash it down with water. But if you think this always reduces the risk of it getting caught in your throat, you’d be mistaken. When swallowing a capsule, it’s actually better to tilt your head down. According to a pharmacist, capsule-style pills float, so if you tilt your head back, you’re more likely to swallow the water before the pill.

Whether for illness, wellness, or beauty, there are pills to take for every need. But have you ever paid attention to how you take them?

Interviewee
I put it in my hand, then tip it in my mouth like this. Since my head is tilted back, it seems like it goes down easier.

Interviewee
It’s easier to swallow if I tilt my head back.

Most people say that they usually raise their head when taking medicine.

Chen Jou-an
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Are you also used to tilting your head back? Well, there’s discussion online that it might be better to lower it instead.

Does it really make it easier to swallow? We spoke to a pharmacist to find out.

Huang Yen-ju
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It’s because capsule-type pills are lighter than water, so they float. So we teach people to lower their head when swallowing. For regular pills, you should raise your head, but lower your head for capsules.

The recommended method depends on the type of pill, whether it’s a capsule or a tablet.

Huang Yen-ju
Pharmacist
Look, if we place a capsule in water, it will float to the surface just like it would in your mouth.

A test proves that capsules float on water, while tablets sink. Therefore, it’s better to raise your head when taking tablets. But for capsules, you should lower it to avoid the pill getting caught in your throat after swallowing the water. Does it work? We got some people to try for themselves.

Tester
It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

Tester
That works too.

Next time you have to take a capsule, give it a try and see whether it actually is easier.

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A group of people fling balls of mud at a landslip. Each ball contains a seed. After the Hualien earthquake, there was a big landslide on the Central Cross-Island Highway. Its verdant slopes had big patches of vegetation shorn away. The Taroko National Park volunteer corps gathered seven kilos of native seeds to throw at the denuded slopes, to give them a chance to recover as fast as possible.

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There was the earthquake on April 3, and also on June 26, as well as Typhoon Gaemi, which all caused secondary damage. The national park is sticking with its original plan of gradual, sustained rehabilitation work.

The earthquake on April 3 gave the magnificent slopes of Taroko National park an instant makeover. When search and rescue operations were complete, the park began its ecological rehabilitation program. It recently released an “Earthquake Image Reel” to drum up support for the work.

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We hope these positive images will make people keep paying attention to Taroko and giving us support. In the near future, we hope to meet with everyone again. There’s still a lot of work to do on the slopes of the highways. So we hope that tourists will not enter this time unless truly necessary.

Post-earthquake rehabilitation is a long and slow process. The national park says that Changchun Shrine might reopen to visitors before the end of the year. But tourist favorites like Tianhsiang and Buluowan will take longer to be reconstructed. Even the Earth needs a moment to rest and recuperate sometimes.

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New law will make it mandatory to register and microchip pet cats

A new law will make it mandatory to register and microchip pet cats. Until now, many house cats have not been officially registered. But from August 2025, it will be a finable offense not to register your cat, even if it always stays indoors. The move comes as the number of pet cats in Taiwan continues to rise. Vets say that microchipping was already the trend before this new rule was announced. But some owners still think it’s not worth it.

Cute and slothful, a cat is the apple of their owner’s eye. In Taiwan, most pet cats are indoors cats, never let outside the house. But now the Ministry of Agriculture says that from Aug. 1, 2025, even indoor cats will have to be registered and microchipped. Some cat owners aren’t having it.

Member of public
I have three cats and they’re not microchipped. What’s going to happen if I don’t microchip them? How will they know I haven’t done it?

Member of public
The microchip means that if it runs away or disappears, it’ll be easier to find it.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, there are now 1.31 million house cats in Taiwan, up 50% from the last survey. They’re almost as numerous as pet dogs. That’s the reason for official eagerness to manage the situation. There’ll be a one-year buffer period to allow cat owners to get up to speed, after which those who don’t register their cats will be fined NT$3,000-NT$15,000.

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Many owners feel the cat is their baby, so the cat needs a status identification, or they want to do it for them. Before the government made any rule, I conducted a lot of pet health checks. And many people would voluntarily get their cats microchipped or registered. Now, there’s an urban-rural divide among the cats I see in the hospital. Of the cats in Taipei City I think 60-70% have been microchipped already.

This vet says that microchipping cats was a rising trend even before this new announcement. If your beloved kitty gets out of the house, and has a microchip, it’s easy for any passerby to scan the chip and bring them home safely.

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