On May 5, 2015, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced this year’s first confirmed indigenous case of measles in Taiwan. The case is a 42-year-old female who resides in northern Taiwan. On April 23, she sought medical attention at a clinic after experiencing symptoms, including fever, weakness, dry cough, rash and shortness of breath. Nevertheless, when her symptoms persisted after several visits to the clinic, she sought further medical attention at a hospital in late night of April 28 and was hospitalized in an isolation ward. On May 1, infection with measles was confirmed in the case. As of now, the case has been discharged. Since the case had not traveled overseas during the exposure period, Taiwan CDC determined the case to be an indigenous case. The possible source of infection is still under investigation.

To prevent further transmission of the disease, the health authorities has implemented a number of prevention measures and identified 805 contacts, including her family members, coworkers, healthcare personnel and patients that he came into contact with when he sought medical attention, to monitor and follow up until May 17. Currently, the health authority has notified 250 of the contacts and none of them has developed suspected symptoms. Among the contacts, 4 are infants below 1 year old. 3 of them who had not received the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine were given immunoglobulins, while the remaining 1 infant is being arranged to receive immunoglobulins.

Thus far this year, a total of 1 indigenous measles case and 1 imported measles case from China have been confirmed in Taiwan. During the same period last year, 12 measles cases were confirmed, including 2 indigenous cases and 10 imported cases (5 became infected in the Philippines, 2 became infected in China, 1 became infected in Indonesia, 1 became infected in Malaysia, and 1 became infected in Vietnam). Taiwan CDC reminds that 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. Physicians are urged to remain vigilant for suspected cases. If symptoms such as fever, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and rash develop, please seek immediate medical attention and to reduce further transmission and voluntarily inform the physician of relevant travel and exposure history.

The transmission of measles is further facilitated by ever increasing international exchange and travel, especially among populations that are not vaccinated against the disease. The best way to prevent measles is vaccination. In Taiwan, the existing routine childhood vaccination schedule recommends a dose of MMR vaccine to children 12 months of age and another dose to first graders in elementary schools. Unvaccinated infants and children, those who do not receive vaccine in a timely manner and those who have never been infected with measles are high-risk groups. Parents are urged to ensure timely vaccination of children under one year old and those who have not completed the MMR vaccine series and avoid bringing unvaccinated children to the affected areas in order to prevent infection. For more information, please visit the Taiwan CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline, 1922 (or 0800-001922).