On May 20, 2014, officials from the China Health and Family Planning Commission confirmed one new H7N9 influenza infection in a 40-year-old male in Anhui Province. The case is currently hospitalized in critical condition. The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) has raised the travel notice for avian influenza for Anhui Province from Level 1: Watch to Level 2: Alert, and issued a travel notice of Level 2: Alert for avian influenza to Hunan Province, Anhui Province, Jiangsu Province, Guangdong Province, Jiangxi Province, Sichuan Province, and Jilin Province, and a travel notice of Level 1: Watch for avian influenza to the other provinces and cities in China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau. Travelers visiting China are urged to practice good personal hygiene and avoid contact with poultry and birds. Travelers visiting China are urged to practice good personal hygiene and avoid contact with poultry and birds. In addition, physicians are advised to pay additional attention to patients with pneumonia and inquire about such patients’ travel history.

Since October 1, 2013, a cumulative total of 307 H7N9 influenza infections have been confirmed in China (293), Hong Kong (10), Taiwan (3), and Malaysia (1). Since March 31, 2013, a cumulative total of 442 H7N9 influenza infections, including 156 deaths announced by WHO on May 19, 2014, have been confirmed around the world. Since “H7N9 influenza” was listed as a Category V Notifiable Infectious Disease in Taiwan on April 3, 2013, thus far, a cumulative total of 600 suspected H7N9 cases have been reported to Taiwan CDC. Infection with avian influenza A (H7N9) has been confirmed in two imported cases, including one death. The possibility of H7N9 infection has been ruled out in 595 cases. The test result for one case is still pending.

Taiwan CDC once again urges travelers visiting China to practice good personal hygiene such as washing hands frequently and putting on a mask when coughing and take preventive measures such as avoiding direct contact with poultry and birds or their droppings/dead bodies, and consuming only thoroughly cooked poultry and eggs. If influenza-like illness symptoms develop upon arriving in Taiwan, please voluntarily notify the airline crew and the quarantine officer at the quarantine station in the airport. If the above-mentioned symptoms such as fever and cough develop after returning to Taiwan, please put on a surgical mask and seek immediate medical attention.  Moreover, please inform the physician of the recent travel and exposure history to facilitate diagnosis and treatment. For more information on enterovirus, please visit the Taiwan CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Care Hotline, 1922 (or 0800-001922).