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Volume 13, Number 11—November 2007
Letter

Possible Typhoon-related Melioidosis Epidemic, Taiwan, 2005

Hsun-Pi Su*†, Chen-Ying Chou†, Shin-Chan Tzeng†, Tien-Lin Ferng†, Ya-Lei Chen‡, Yao-Shen Chen§, and Tung-Ching Chung*Comments to Author 
Author affiliations: *National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China; †Centers for Disease Control, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; ‡National Kaoshiung Normal University, Kaoshiung, Taiwan, Republic of China; §Kaoshiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaoshiung, Taiwan, Republic of China;

Main Article

Table

PFGE patterns of clinical isolates of Burkholderia pseudomallei obtained before and after Typhoon Haitang, Taiwan, 2005*

PFGE types No. clinical isolates
Before (Jan–Jun)
 After (Jul–Sep)
Subtropical zone, no. Temperate zone, no. Total, no. (%) Subtropical zone, no. Temperate zone, no. Total, no. (%)
S1 0 0 0 31 0 31 (57.4)
S1a 0 0 0 1 0 1 (1.9)
S2 0 0 0 0 1 1 (1.9)
S3 0 0 0 3 1 4 (7.4)
S3a 2 0 2 (66.6) 10 0 10 (18.5)
S3b 0 0 0 2 0 2 (3.7)
S3c 0 0 0 2 0 2 (3.7)
S4 0 0 0 1 0 1 (1.9)
S5 1 0 1 (33.3) 0 0 0
S6 0 0 0 1 0 1 (1.9)
S7 0 0 0 0 1 1 (1.9)
Total 3 0 3 (100) 51 3 54 (100)
Incidence rate† 0.52 0 0.13‡ 8.86§ 0.18§ 2.38‡

*Typhoon Haitang hit Taiwan on July 18, 2005. Logistic regression analyses evaluating the associations were conducted with SAS software version 6.12 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA). PFGE, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.
†Per million population. At the end of June 2005, the population of subtropical counties was 5,753,647, and the population of temperate zone counties was16,936,127. In 2005, the population at risk for melioidosis in Taiwan was 22,689,774. Data obtained from the Department of Taiwan Internal Affairs.
‡Odds ratio (OR) 17.99, 95% confidence interval [CI] 5.63–57.54, p = 0.0001.
§OR 0.019, 95% CI 0.006–0.060, p = 0.0001.

Main Article

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