On July 30, 2013, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) confirmed this dengue epidemic season’s first indigenous case of dengue fever in Pingtung City, Pingtung County in a 57-year-old female who resides in Dawu Township. On July 23, she sought medical attention when she developed symptoms, including headache, muscle ache, joint pain, bone pain, retroorbital pain, fever, and bleeding gum. On July 25, when her symptoms persisted, she sought further medical attention at a hospital and was hospitalized for further medical treatment. On July 27, her infection with dengue virus was confirmed. The Pingtung County Government has implemented various measures to prevent further spread of the disease, including conducting an expanded epidemic investigation, investigating the mosquito density in and around the case’s residence and places frequently visited by the case, conducting a thorough cleaning of vector breeding sites, and spraying insecticide.

During July 23 and 29, 2013, 1 new indigenous case of dengue fever and 7 imported cases of dengue fever were confirmed. As of July 29, 2013, a cumulative total of 59 indigenous dengue cases and 125 imported dengue cases have been confirmed this dengue season. Among the indigenous dengue cases, 58 cases have been confirmed in Pingtung County (36 cases in Chunri Township 11 cases in Xinyuan Township, 10 cases in Chaozhou Township, and 1 case in Pingtung City), and 1 case has been confirmed in Kaohsiung City

Taiwan CDC stresses that the ongoing dengue outbreaks in countries in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Singapore and Laos, are more severe than those occurred in the previous years. Hence, Taiwan CDC urges travelers visiting countries in Southeast Asia and areas at risk for dengue transmission to take precautions against mosquito bites, including 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. Taiwan CDC emphasizes if symptoms such as fever, headache, fatigue, retroorbital pain, myalgia, and arthragia develop after returning to Taiwan, please seek immediate medical attention and inform the doctor of any recent travel history and activity to facilitate prompt diagnosis and case reporting. Physicians are advised to be vigilant for and notify any suspected cases to the health authority immediately to facilitate implementation of subsequent measures that prevent further spread of the disease.

Taiwan CDC stresses that everyone needs to participate in dengue control efforts in order to successfully contain the epidemic and urges the public to stay vigilant against dengue fever and take necessary measures such as draining water containers and cleaning up vector breeding sites around their residences as well as preventing mosquito bites to effectively prevent the spread of dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever and protect their health and the health of their family. According to Article 70 of the Communicable Disease Control Act, anyone who refuses, evades or obstructs disease control measures such as inspection decided by competent authorities or fails to notify the competent authorities of the presence of vector breeding sites that is later identified by competent authorities or clean up vector breeding sites as requested by competent authorities may be fined NT$ 3,000 up to NT$ 15,000. For more information on dengue fever, please call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Care Hotline, 1922, or 0800-024582 if calling from a cell phone, or visit the Taiwan CDC’s website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw.