On September 10, 2013, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced two new imported cases of chikungunya fever were confirmed last week (September 2 and 8). Both are Taiwanese citizens who became infected in Indonesia. One case is a 54-year-old male who developed symptoms on August 21 and chikungunya fever was confirmed in the case on September 5. The other case is a 53-year-old male who developed symptoms on August 19 and chikungunya fever was confirmed in the case on September 6. As of September 8, a cumulative total of 16 imported cases of chikungunya fever have been confirmed, which is a new record high during the same period in years and 3.5 times more than that during the same period in the past 5 years. Thus far this year, 12 cases were imported from Indonesia, 2 cases were imported from the Philippines, and 1 case was respectively imported from Thailand and Singapore.

According to the latest international epidemic surveillance data, this year’s number of chikungunya fever cases in Singapore continues to increase. As of August 31, an accumulative total of 574 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in Singapore, which is 64 times that during the same period last year (9 cases were reported during the same period last year) and 26 times that during the same period in the past five years (an average of 22 cases were reported during the same period in the past five years). At the time of writing, more than 900 chikungunya fever cases have been reported in Antique, the Philippines during May and July this year. As of now, an accumulative total of 1,102 cases have been reported in Antique. Since “chinkungunya fever” was listed as a Category II Notifiable Infectious Disease in October 2007 in Taiwan, an accumulative total of 56 cases have been confirmed and all of them were imported. 34 cases were imported from Indonesia, 6 cases were respectively imported from Malaysia and the Philippines, 3 cases were imported from Thailand, 2 cases were imported from Singapore, 1 case was respectively imported from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia, and 1 case of unknown origin because the case visited several countries during the incubation period.

Chikungunya fever is a viral illness that is caused by chikungunya virus and spread by the virus-carrying Aedes mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The primary symptoms include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting as well as severe and often incapacitating joint pain. The incubation period of chikungunya fever ranges from two to twelve days, usually three to seven days.

Over the recent years, opportunities for people to travel to Southeast Asia for business and leisure have dramatically increased. Moreover, dengue and chikungunya fever are endemic in Southeast Asia all year round. Therefore, Taiwan CDC urges travelers visiting endemic areas to take precautions against mosquito bites such as 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, nausea, vomiting, rash and joint pain 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. For any questions or further information, please visit the Taiwan CDC’s website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Care Hotline, 1922, or 0800-001922 if calling from a cell phone.