On November 4, 2014, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced this year’s twenty-fifth case of measles in a ten-month-old baby boy. The baby boy traveled to Vietnam to visit his relatives with his mother on October 1. He developed fever on October 25 and rash on October 28. He returned to Taiwan on October 29 and was detected with a fever by the fever screening station at the airport. The case was immediately sent to a hospital for medical attention in a privately owned car and laboratory testing confirmed measles infection in the case. To prevent further transmission of the disease, the health authorities has implemented a number of prevention measures and identified 19 contacts, including his family members, and health care personnel and other patients at the hospital where he sought medical attention, to monitor and follow up until November 19. Currently, none of the contacts have developed suspected symptoms.

In another development related to the family cluster of measles cases reported earlier in Nantou County, measles infection has also been confirmed in two of the cases’ family members who developed suspected symptoms through laboratory testing. As of now, the family cluster has resulted in measles infection of four cases. Thus far, only the index case has been removed from the follow-up list, the 514 contacts of the other three cases will be monitored and followed up until November 15.

Thus far this year, a total of 7 indigenous measles cases and 18 imported measles cases have been confirmed in Taiwan. Among the imported cases, 6 became infected in China, 6 became infected in the Philippines, 2 became infected in Indonesia, 1 became infected in Hong Kong, 1 became infected in Malaysia, and 2 became infected in Vietnam. Taiwan CDC advises travelers planning to visit areas affected by measles to visit the outpatient travel clinic at 23 contracted hospitals in the nation to determine the need for measles vaccination prior to their trip.

As vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent measles, parents are urged to ensure timely vaccination of children under one year old and those who have not completed the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine series and are advised against bringing children below the age of one or those who have not received the MMR vaccine to areas affected by measles. If such travel is inevitable, children are recommended to receive one dose of self-paid MMR vaccine two weeks prior to visiting the affected areas at local health stations.

Measles is a highly infectious respiratory disease that is spread by contact with droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of an infected person, either directly or through aerosol transmission. An infected person remains infectious 4 days before and after the development of rash. The transmission of measles is further facilitated by ever increasing international exchange and travel, especially among populations that are not vaccinated against the disease. If symptoms pertaining to measles infection such as fever, rhinitis and rash develop, please put on a mask, seek immediate medical attention, and voluntarily inform the physician of relevant travel and exposure history. For more information, please visit the Taiwan CDC’s website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline, 1922, or 0800-001922.