On July 27, 2017, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced this year’s first indigenous dengue case confirmed in Taiwan. The case is a 56-year-old female who resides in Dachang Village, Nanzi District, Kaohsiung City and has a medical history of chronic conditions. When she subsequently developed fever, muscle ache, headache, joint pain, retroorbital pain, nausea, chills, rash and diarrhea, she sought medical attention respectively on July 24 and 25. Due to the fact that her family members had also developed dengue-like symptoms, the hospital reported her as a suspected dengue case to the health authority on July 26. Infection with dengue type 3 virus was confirmed in the case on July 27.

According to an expanded epidemiological investigation voluntarily conducted by the local health authority, the case’s family members who reside in the same household had all developed dengue-like symptoms. Among them, 1 was tested negative for dengue virus while 2 require a second test. As of now, the case is conscious and hospitalized for treatment and the family members who experienced suspected symptoms are being hospitalized in isolation wards for treatment.

As a dengue cluster appears to occur among the case’s family members, the local health authority has implemented various prevention measures upon receiving the report of the case, including cleaning of vector breeding sites, investigating the mosquito population density around the case’s residence and places she frequents, and providing the public with relevant health education in order to prevent the further spread of the disease.

Thus far this year, a cumulative total of 1 indigenous dengue case occurred in Kaohsiung City and 148 imported dengue cases have been confirmed in Taiwan. Imported cases were mostly from Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia and Vietnam. Last year, a cumulative total of 380 indigenous dengue cases and 363 imported dengue cases were confirmed. Recently, the overall level of dengue activity in Southeast Asia has been on the rise. The most affected countries include Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Among them, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, and Laos have reported a higher number of cases compared to the same period last year.

 
As the temperature in Taiwan remains high and several typhoons that will result in heavy downpours are approaching Taiwan this weekend, Taiwan CDC urges the public to empty and clean any potential vector breeding sites in and around the home periodically in order to prevent dengue transmission. Travelers planning to visit areas affected by dengue fever are urged to take precautions against mosquito bites. If symptoms such as fever, headache, retroorbital pain, myalgia, arthralgia, and rash develop, please seek immediate medical attention and inform the doctor of any relevant medical history, recent travel history and activity to facilitate prompt diagnosis and case reporting. 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).