Taiwan is experiencing a flu outbreak with the number of sufferers presenting at emergency wards last week at a five-year high. According to a Centers for Disease Control report released today, hospital emergency wards saw 21,584 patients, which was 842 patients more than the week before.
As temperatures continue to rise, medical clinics and hospital emergency wards are filling up with a record number of flu patients for this time of the year, due to an unseasonal outbreak of influenza. Medical professionals are pointing fingers at a mutated strain of the influenza virus.
Lin Ying-ran
Pediatrician
The strain that is prevalent now has mutated from the strain in the vaccine we’re currently administering, so the vaccine cannot create immunity.
Medical professionals are especially warning that in the summer heat, flu patients should be very careful to avoid heat stroke.
Huang Li-min
National Taiwan University Hospital Pediatrician
If you get hit with both heat stroke and the flu at the same time, that’s very bad. The flu naturally increases your body’s temperature. If you get heat stroke, your body won’t be able to expel that heat from your body. The biggest worry is then muscle fatigue and kidney failure.
The Centers for Disease Control estimate that the flu outbreak may start to wind down by mid-July.
FORMOSA NEWS
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