In the morning of October 20, 2014, officials from the China Health and Family Planning Commission confirmed that the 55-year-old Nigerian male who boarded a plane from the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ningbo, China and was detected with a fever through the fever screening procedure tested negative for the Ebola virus. As a result, the monitoring period for flight crews on same flight ended immediately.

The traveler boarded a plane from Lagos, Nigeria on October 6 to Brussels, Belgium by way of Dubai. The traveler boarded another plane from Brussels, Belgium to Taipei, Taiwan by way of Dubai. The traveler arrived in Taiwan on October 14. The traveler boarded another plane to Ningbo, China from the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in the afternoon of October 16. Upon his arrival in China, he was detected with a fever and was therefore admitted to a hospital for further examination and laboratory testing.

Taiwan CDC recommends the public to avoid all nonessential travel to Ebola-affected areas in West Africa. If you must travel to an area with an Ebola outbreak, protect yourself by taking the following measures. Avoid visiting hospitals and direct contact with patients. Travelers are urged to monitor their own health for 21 days after their return to Taiwan. On the other hand, physicians are advised to stay vigilant for suspected cases, inquire about such patients’ travel history, and notify the health authority immediately of any suspected cases to facilitate implementation of subsequent measures such as following relevant infection control and prevention guidelines closely, case reporting, specimen collection, isolation of patients, and placing contacts in quarantine in order to prevent further transmission of the disease. Health-care workers should always take standard precautions when caring for patients, regardless of their presumed diagnosis. These include basic hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, use of personal protective equipment (to block splashes or other contact with infected materials), safe injection practices and safe burial practices. Health-care workers caring for patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola virus should apply extra infection control measures to prevent contact with the patient’s blood and body fluids and contaminated surfaces or materials such as clothing and bedding. For more information, please visit the Taiwan CDC’s website at: www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline, 1922 (or 0800-001922).