On January 9, 2018, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced this year’s first imported chikungunya case in a 29-yaer-old Filipino male migrant worker. On January 2, he was detected with fever upon arrival in Kaohsiung International Airport. On January 4, infection with chikungunya virus was confirmed in the case through blood test.

According to the epidemiological investigation, the case traveled alone and was originally planning to work in southern Taiwan after arriving on January 2. When he was detected with fever upon arriving in Taiwan, the airport quarantine officer from Taiwan CDC immediately provided the case with relevant health education and mosquito repellent. Subsequently, the case was referred to a hospital for hospitalization and treatment by the Department of Health of the Kaohsiung City Government.  As a result, no one in the community was exposed to the case. As of now, the case has been discharged from the hospital and he is in good health.

Since chikungunya was listed as a notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan beginning October 2007, a cumulative total of 106 chikungunya cases have been confirmed. All of them are imported cases and 91% of them originated from Southeast Asia, including 57 cases from Indonesia and 24 cases from the Philippines. During the recent 3 years (2015-2017), a total of 4, 14 and 11 cases were confirmed respectively.

Chikungunya is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the tropical and subtropical areas of the Central and South Americas. Epidemics in the South Asia region, including Pakistan and India, have continued to persist, while sporadic cases have continued to occur in countries in Southeast Asia, including Singapore and Thailand.

Taiwan CDC reminds travelers planning to visit areas affected by chikungunya to take precautions against mosquito bites, including wearing light-colored clothing, long sleeves and long pants, applying officially approved mosquito repellent to exposed parts of the body, staying at accommodations installed with window screens, screen doors or air conditioners. If symptoms such as fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, rash and joint pain develop after their return, please seek immediate medical attention and inform the physician of their travel activity and history in order to facilitate early diagnosis, case reporting and treatment. 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).