First E.coli O-157 case confirmed in Taiwan
case of an infection with the virulent O-157 strain of E. coli
bacteria that claimed the lives of several children in western
Japan during a 1996 epidemic.
Taiwan on Thursday was cited as reporting its first-ever confirmed case of an infection with the virulent O-157 strain of E. coli bacteria that claimed the lives of several children in western Japan during a 1996 epidemic, Associated Press reports this week. Department of Health officials were cited as saying that a 6-year-old Chinese-American boy hospitalised Sunday was found to have contracted E. coli O-157, a foodborne disease. The boy subsequently suffered complications linked to the infection called hemolytic uremic syndrome, in which red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys fail. The story notes that the boy is visiting from the United States during the summer vacation, but the officials said it appears certain that he contracted the disease while in Taiwan, since the condition developed more than six weeks after his arrival.
