As the winter break and the Chinese New Year holiday are fast approaching, the peak travel season is upon us. The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) reminds travelers to obtain the latest information on epidemics at their destination and travel health information prior to their trip. In addition, the public is advised to take precautions against mosquito bites and maintain good personal and food hygiene in order to ensure an enjoyable and healthy trip. If discomforts such as fever develop upon returning to Taiwan, please seek immediate medical attention and inform the doctor of personal travel history and contact history to facilitate diagnosis.

Travelers are also advised to visit the outpatient travel clinic at any of the 12 contracted hospitals in the nation two to four weeks prior to their trip to seek professional travel health advices that protect them against infectious diseases. When visiting areas with inadequate sanitation, pay attention to food and water hygiene. Eat only well-cooked food to prevent intestinal infectious disease such as bacillus dysentery, typhoid fever, amebic dysentery and norovirus. Moreover, it is also important to take heed of personal hygiene through washing hands frequently and avoiding touching nose and mouth to prevent enterovirus.

In light of the fact that international travel is frequent during the holiday season and there are ongoing influenza outbreaks in the U.S., Europe, Northern China and Japan, Taiwan CDC would like to remind the public not to underestimate the seriousness of influenza and people who have not been infected with influenza or those who have not been vaccinated against influenza are more susceptible to influenza infection. Additionally, people who are qualified for receiving the government-funded influenza vaccine, including elderly, children and high-risk individuals, are once again urged to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Further, it is important to practice good personal habits, including washing hands properly and frequently, practicing respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette, avoiding visiting crowded public places with poor ventilation, staying home when sick, in order to effectively prevent the spread of influenza.

Travelers visiting areas affected by vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya fever and malaria, especially countries in Southeast Asia, are urged to take precautions against mosquito bites such as wearing light-colored clothing, long sleeves and long pants and applying officially approved mosquito repellent to exposed parts of the body to lower the risk of infection.

For any questions or further information, please call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Care Hotline, 1922, or 0800-024582 if calling from a cell phone and overseas, or visit the Taiwan CDC’s website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw.