Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link
Volume 14, Number 10—October 2008
Dispatch

Unexplained Deaths and Critical Illnesses of Suspected Infectious Cause, Taiwan, 2000–2005

Tsung-Hsi WangComments to Author , Kuo-Chen Wei, Donald Dah-Shyong Jiang, Chan-Hsian Chiu, Shan-Chwen Chang, and Jung-Der WangComments to Author 
Author affiliations: Taiwan Centers for Disease Control, Taipei, Taiwan (T.-H. Wang; D.D. Jiang, C.-H. Chiu); Chang Gung University and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan (K.-C. Wei); College of Medicine of the National Taiwan University, Taipei (S.-C. Chang, J.-D. Wang); College of Public Health of the National Taiwan University, Taipei (J.-D. Wang);

Main Article

Table

Incidence rate of case-patients detected by surveillance and proportions of deaths, possible infectious causes, and autopsy, Taiwan, August 2000–March 2005

Category TCDC branch*
Total Northern Middle Southern Eastern
Incidence/100,000 person-years† 0.12 0.09 0.16 0.09 0.64
Proportion of deaths among all case-patients, % 73 75 64 79 83
Proportion of infectious causes identified, % 65 63 68 68 39
Viral agents among infection cases, % 42 56 30 37 57
Bacterial agents among infection cases, % 46 36 57 47 36
Rickettsia spp. among infection cases, % 4 4 3 0 14
Proportion of causes remaining unknown, % 23 25 16 29 25
Autopsy rate among patients who died, % 49 53 43 41 67

*TCDC, Taiwan Centers for Disease Control.
†Denominators for the population under surveillance, obtained from the 2002 intercensus (11) and approximately the midpoint of this study period, included all people in the age groups under surveillance at the various sites and were used to calculate the incidence rate.

Main Article

References
  1. Twu  SJ, Chen  TJ, Chen  CJ, Olsen  SJ, Lee  LT, Fisk  T, Control measures for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Taiwan. Emerg Infect Dis. 2003;9:718–20.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Update: outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome—worldwide, 2003. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2003;52:269–72.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Severe acute respiratory syndrome—Singapore, 2003. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2003;52:405–11.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Yu  IT, Li  Y, Wong  TW, Tam  W, Chan  AT, Lee  JH, Evidence of airborne transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus. N Engl J Med. 2004;350:1731–9. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. Wang  TH, Wei  KC, Hsiung  AC, Maloney  SA, Eidex  RB, Posey  DL, Optimizing severe acute respiratory syndrome response strategies: lessons learned from quarantine. Am J Public Health. 2007;97(Suppl 1):S98–100. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Addressing emerging infectious disease threats: a prevention strategy for the United States. Atlanta: US Department of Health and Human Services; 1994.
  7. Perkins  BA, Flood  JM, Danila  R, Holman  RC, Reingold  AL, Klug  LA, Unexplained deaths due to possibly infectious causes in the United States: defining the problem and designing surveillance and laboratory approaches. The Unexplained Deaths Working Group. Emerg Infect Dis. 1996;2:47–53.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  8. Welsh  TS, Kaplan  J. The role of postmortem examination in medical education. Mayo Clin Proc. 1998;73:802–5.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  9. Kluger  MD, Sofair  AN, Heye  C, Meek  J, Sodhi  R, Hadler  J. Retrospective validation of the prospective surveillance of unexplained illness and death due to potentially infectious causes. Am J Public Health. 2001;91:1214–9. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  10. Hajjeh  RA, Relman  D, Cieslak  PR, Sofair  AN, Passaro  D, Floodet  J, Surveillance for unexplained deaths and critical illnesses due to possibly infectious causes, United States, 1995–1998. Emerg Infect Dis. 2002;8:145–53.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  11. Department of Statistics. Annual statistical report of the population: 2002. Taipei (Taiwan): Ministry of the Interior; 2003 [cited 2008 Jul 16]. Available from http://www.moi.gov.tw/stat/english/index.asp
  12. Institute of Forensic Medicine. Mobilization of forensive medicine business [cited 2008 Jul 31]. Available from http://www.tpa.moj.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=2590&ctNode=7790
  13. Taiwan Center for Disease Control. Molecular-biological analysis of the first imported rabies case in Taiwan. Epidemiol Bull. 2002;18:245–55.
  14. Hsiao  CH, Wu  MZ, Chen  CL, Hsueh  PR, Hsieh  SW, Yang  PC, Evolution of pulmonary pathology in severe acute respiratory syndrome. J Formos Med Assoc. 2005;104:75–81.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  15. Zhu  QY, Qin  ED, Wang  W, Yu  J, Liu  BH, Hu  Y, Fatal infection with influenza A (H5N1) virus in China. N Engl J Med. 2006;354:2731–2. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar

Main Article

Page created: July 13, 2010
Page updated: July 13, 2010
Page reviewed: July 13, 2010
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
file_external