Taiwan hepatitis certification still on track: official
By Hollie Younger / Staff writer, with CNA
A cluster of hepatitis C cases in New Taipei City would not affect the timeline for Taiwan’s application for WHO certification, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said yesterday.
Earlier this year, Taipei submitted its Taiwan Hepatitis C Elimination Report to the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office for a “gold tier” status for its efforts to eliminate hepatitis C ahead of the WHO’s 2030 global target.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Wednesday linked 11 acute viral hepatitis C cases to a clinic in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋).
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Chuang Jen-hsiang speaks to reporters in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Lo Pi, Taipei Times
The cases had received intravenous nutritional injections at the Antai Songhe Clinic (安泰淞鶴診所) between January and last month, the agency said.
The CDC said it received a report on Aug. 12 about two cases of acute hepatitis C and immediately launched an investigation.
Chuang said more than 1,000 people are awaiting screening.
Hepatitis C has an incubation period of six months.
At the end of last year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that Taiwan had achieved hepatitis C elimination ahead of schedule, with diagnosis and treatment rates exceeding 90 percent.
If clusters are detected early and treated, they would not affect hepatitis C elimination indicators or Taiwan’s application to the WHO, as confirmed cases are not expected to exceed 1,000, Chuang said.
If granted gold tier status, Taiwan would become a regional leader and join countries at the forefront of hepatitis elimination, such as Iceland, Australia and Egypt.
WHO criteria do not require Taiwan to completely eliminate new hepatitis C infections, and monitoring and active prevention and control efforts would remain necessary, the Health Promotion Administration said.
About 7.96 million people in Taiwan underwent hepatitis B and C screening between 2017 and June, while 184,000 people with chronic hepatitis C received treatment with new oral antiviral drugs, its data showed.
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