Response and Control Measures for Enterovirus Echo 11 Infections in Neonates, 2018

Response and Control Measures for Enterovirus Echo 11 Infections in Neonates, 2018

In 2018, enteric cytopathic human orphan virus 11 (Echo 11) was prevalent in the community, and the neonatal cases of Echo 11 infections with severe complications and Echo 11 clusters in neonatal care units of hospitals or postpartum nursing care centers were also confirmed successively. In addition to the completion of existing control measures for enterovirus such as hygiene promotion for enterovirus infection prevention and pre-symptoms of severe syndromes, professionals training, and visiting and counseling for enterovirus-responsible hospitals, Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (TCDC) and local governments adopted series of special measures, including strengthening the risk communication in prevention and awareness of severity of neonatal enterovirus infection with pregnant women, baby-caregiver and medical staff, improving the quality of medical care and maintaining the referral system, and supervising hospitals and postpartum nursing care centers to implement infection control and epidemic prevention measures. In order to reduce the health hazards and social impacts caused by enterovirus, TCDC will continue to monitor the trend of the epidemic and adjust the prevention and control strategies timely in the future.