{"id":14933,"date":"2026-05-08T17:09:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/hantavirus-cases-within-normal-range-rodent-control-ongoing-cdc-taipei-times\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T17:09:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:09:37","slug":"hantavirus-cases-within-normal-range-rodent-control-ongoing-cdc-taipei-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/hantavirus-cases-within-normal-range-rodent-control-ongoing-cdc-taipei-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Hantavirus cases within normal range, rodent control ongoing: CDC &#8211; Taipei Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Taiwan\u2019s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years\u2019 case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (\u7f85\u4e00\u921e) said today in an interview with the <i>Liberty Times<\/i> (the <i>Taipei Times<\/i>\u2019 sister newspaper). <br \/>An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. <br \/>In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei\u2019s Daan District (\u5927\u5b89) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan\u2019s first case this year.<br \/>Photo: Chang Chia-juei, Taipei Times<br \/>In March, another man in his 70s with underlying health conditions in New Taipei City tested positive for the disease. <br \/>The number of cases is not an increase compared with the same period over the past four years, Lo said, adding that Taiwan is not prone to large-scale outbreaks of hantavirus.<br \/>However, there might be increases in cases from May to June and October to December, related to rodents\u2019 peak breeding seasons in spring and autumn, he added. <br \/>Central and local governments are working together to control the rat infestation, with environmental agencies carrying out extermination work, Lo said.<br \/>The authorities have extensive experience in keeping rat populations under control, so there should not be an increase in hantavirus cases or any outbreaks, he said. <br \/>Hantavirus is mainly transmitted through the inhalation of aerosolized particles from rodent secretions or excretions, the CDC said. <br \/>A person can be infected if they inhale or come into contact with dust, objects or airborne particles contaminated with the virus, or if they are bitten or scratched by a rodent carrying the virus, it said. <br \/>The severity of symptoms after infection varies depending on the person\u2019s immune system and the specific type of virus involved, it added. <br \/>The key to preventing hantavirus is rat control, the CDC said, adding that people should not let rodents stay or eat in their homes and should avoid contact with them. <br \/>Hantavirus has a fatty outer layer, so it can be inactivated by things like alcohol, disinfectants or household bleach, it said.  <br \/>Inactivated means the virus has been rendered unable to infect or replicate, so it can no longer cause disease.<br \/>Hantavirus also does not tolerate heat well and loses its ability to infect after about 30 minutes at 60\u00b0C, the CDC added.<br \/>                                         <font class=\"red hidden\"><\/font>                                                                                 The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea\u2019s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday.  The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said.  Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on &#8220;human-centric&#8221; transportation concepts, TRTC said.  The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable                                    <br \/>                                         <font class=\"red hidden\"><\/font>                                                                                 Taiwan&#8217;s first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (\u6d77\u9be4, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July.  The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (\u8cf4\u6e05\u5fb7) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support.  The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp\u2019s Endeavor Manta (\u596e\u9032\u9b54\u9b3c\u9b5a\u865f) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat.  Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,                                    <br \/>                                         <font class=\"red hidden\"><\/font>                                                                                 Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay.   Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones.   \u201cWe update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people\u2019s attention,\u201d quarantine officials said. \u201cThe aim is to use the dogs\u2019 appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.\u201d   A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a                                    <br \/>                                         <font class=\"red hidden\"><\/font>                                                                                 Taiwan\u2019s coffee community has launched a \u201cone-person-one-e-mail\u201d campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from \u201cTaiwan,\u201d rather than \u201cChinese Taipei.\u201d   The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from \u201cTaiwan\u201d to \u201cChinese Taipei,\u201d including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (\u6797\u7d39\u8208), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month.  When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC\u2019s Web site, until it                                    <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMiekFVX3lxTE55UDJ4VXVwbTlYbzhqU29WdmF3NlA0cEVfX1dPVjA0bk1oSE9zYlJoZHl2ZWJPc2NHTHk5N3RCQlJ4UmlpcWZfZmRjR1ZjX0FZdGdKMVFnX01kUGQ2eGpjVU5TLW5nTE5Pa1hzeGdDRXJfWFVnZ0l5aUdn?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Taiwan\u2019s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years\u2019 case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (\u7f85\u4e00\u921e) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times\u2019 sister newspaper). [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}