Taiwan Headlines: First notifiable Lyme disease case - Submitted by Freethinker
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Society News
11/21/2007 (CNA)
Taipei, Nov. 21 (CNA) Taiwan has recorded its first reported case of Lyme disease since the illness was declared a nationally notifiable infectious disease last month, a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) official said Wednesday.
The case involves a 22-year-old American citizen teaching English in Taiwan, who was diagnosed to have been infected during a trip back home between April and May, according to CDC Deputy Director-General Shih Wen-yi.
The man sought medical treatment at a Taiwan hospital recently and was reported by the hospital to health authorities, Shih said, adding that the man is receiving antibiotic treatment.
Shih noted that every year, the United States records more than 10,000 cases of Lyme disease, which is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected blacklegged ticks.
Early symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, fatigue, and acharacteristic skin rash called erythema migrans, and if left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system, according to Shih.
Pointing out that the disease is not transmissible between humans, Shih said although wild rats, rabbits and deer in Taiwan often carry blacklegged ticks, no Borrelia burgdorferi infection has been discovered so far among the insects. (By Y.F. Low)
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