The heavy downpour brought by Typhoon Nepartak has resulted in serious floods in several areas. The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) urged residents in flooded areas to pay attention to food safety and environmental hygiene and take the following measures to lower the risk of contracting infectious diseases.

1. Be sure to clean and remove vector breeding sites to prevent dengue fever.

As the one week after the typhoon is a crucial period of time to augment ongoing dengue prevention and control efforts, the public is urged to attend to their environmental hygiene through voluntarily and periodically emptying and cleaning any standing water on the rooftop and in the basement and draining or removing any unused containers that collect standing water such as used tires, cans, canvas, plastic bottles, and plant pots in order to reduce the breeding of vector mosquitoes and prevent the transmission of dengue fever.

2. While cleaning up households, protect your hands and feet by putting on protective gears such as waterproof boots and gloves to avoid contracting leptospirosis, melioidosis, and tetanus.

As contaminated water, contaminated mud and disaster waste often result following a typhoon, be sure to wear waterproof gloves, gumboots, and facemasks when cleaning the environment in order to prevent puncture wounds or cuts by rusty objects that could lead to leptospirosis, melioidosis and tetanus. People who develop symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle pain, stomach ache, diarrhea, jaundice, and fatigue should seek immediate medical attention and notify the doctor of the area of their residence, the cause of injury and the history of their exposure to contaminated water, mud and objects in order to facilitate diagnosis and treatment.

3. Observe proper water, food and environmental hygiene to prevent enteric diseases.

Heavy rain may cause an increase in water turbidity and affect water safety. If reservoirs have come in contact with floodwater, they should be cleaned and disinfected first, and then be refilled again. If disinfectant odor is present in your tap water, the water should be boiled for 3 minutes prior to consumption. When necessary, use bottled water to assure water safety. Do not consume food that has been soaked in the flood water or left unfrozen for too long. Do not use contaminated tableware and utensils until they have been disinfected. To disinfect indoors areas, floors, walls, toilets, showers, kitchens and bedrooms need to be wiped clean and disinfected with a 500ppm chlorine solution (i.e. a solution of 100cc of liquid household bleach in 10 liters of water). Do not use contaminated tableware and utensils until they have been disinfected. To disinfect kitchen utensils and cutleries, they should be boiled, and for those that cannot be boiled, soak them in a 200ppm chlorine solution (i.e. a solution of 40cc of liquid household bleach in 10 liters of water) for 30 minutes.

Taiwan CDC will remain in close contact with the local health bureaus in the nation to monitor the occurrence of infectious diseases after the typhoon. If symptoms develop, please seek immediate medical attention. In addition, physicians are urged to report to the health authority when they identify a suspected case in order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. For more information, please contact the local health bureau or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Case Reporting and Care Hotline, 1922, or 0800-001922.