Taiwan could face enterovirus epidemic, warns doctor

ISTANBUL

Taiwan could face an enterovirus epidemic "at any time," an infectious disease expert warned on Wednesday.

Hwang Kao-pin, deputy dean of China Medical University Hospital Infection Control Center, said that the enterovirus epidemic first broke out in Taiwan in 1998, with 405 severe cases and death of 78 people, mostly children.

Hwang noted that enterovirus 71 epidemics have occurred every 3 to 4 years since then, typically when a certain number of children lack antibodies.

Enterovirus 71 is one of more than 100 non-polio enteroviruses, it is a common cause of hand, foot, and mouth disease in infants and young children, according to US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although rare, the virus can cause meningitis, encephalitis and acute flaccid myelitis.

Hwang said that as Taiwan has not seen the large-scale spread of enterovirus 71 since 2012, almost none of the current high-risk group of children under five have antibodies, which is "extremely dangerous" and "a big outbreak could happen anytime."

Although it was expected that an outbreak would happen between 2019 and 2020, the precautions taken against COVID-19 prevented it, however, since those precautions have been eased now, the chance of an enterovirus epidemic continues to rise, he said.

Hwang urged parents to vaccinate their children at the earliest.

The expert also called for the vaccines to be publicly funded, while the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control spokesperson Tseng Shu-huai said that enterovirus 71 vaccine will be included in the welfare policy assessment for 2025.