In February 2016, a total of 13 tour groups consisting of 254 travelers, including the tour guides, visited Latin America. As of now, 8 tour groups comprising of 158 travelers have returned to Taiwan. Only one of the returned travelers was detected with fever at the fever screening station at the airport upon arrival, and both Zika virus infection and dengue fever have been ruled out in the individual. All the other returned travelers are in good health. The remaining 5 tour groups will be returning to Taiwan at the end of February and the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) will closely monitor and follow up on the health of these group members.

The Taiwan CDC’s Command Center for Zika Virus points out that the current prevention and control efforts focus on offshore and border control. Taiwan CDC has been implementing 6 major prevention and control measures, including mosquito control for aircrafts, health education for arriving and departing passengers, fever screening of all inbound travelers, traveler’s health declaration, blood tests at ports, and hospital referrals. The Command Center for Zika Virus will continue to closely monitor the development of the ongoing Zika outbreaks and implement measures that are in line with the international community.  The public is urged to cooperate with government policies to help ward off the Zika virus.

Thus far, at least 40 countries, areas and/or territories worldwide, primarily in Latin America and the Caribbean region, have reported local outbreaks of Zika virus infection. Taiwan CDC has issued a travel notice of Level 2: Alert for Zika virus for the aforementioned 40 countries and territories. Although sporadic cases have been reported in 5 countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Gabon in Africa, no direct evidence has shown local transmission has occurred in any of the 5 countries. Taiwan CDC has issued a travel notice of Level 1: Watch for Zika virus for these 5 countries.

Although the disease is usually mild, there have been reports of congenital microcephaly and even deaths in babies of mothers who were infected with Zika virus while pregnant. Besides the first imported case of Zika virus infection in a Thai national detected at the airport in Taiwan, thus far, no local cases of Zika virus infection have been identified in Taiwan. In addition, no significant increase in the number of microcephaly cases in Taiwan has been observed. Taiwan CDC will continue to closely monitor the ongoing outbreaks and implement 4 major strategies, including healthcare system preparedness planning, prevention of Zika virus importation, border quarantine and vector control, in order to prevent the occurrence of local outbreaks.

Taiwan CDC advises pregnant women to postpone all unnecessary travels to Zika-affected areas. If visits to affected areas are necessary, travelers are advised to conduct self-health management for at least two weeks after returning from affected areas, and follow the doctor’s instructions for all follow-ups. Travelers visiting affected areas are urged to take precautions against mosquito bites such as 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. People returning from Zika-affected areas are advised to use condoms when having sex for at least 28 days to prevent Zika transmission. Further, Taiwan CDC urges travelers returning from affected areas to proactively contact the quarantine officer at the fever screening station at the airport when suspected symptoms develop. If symptoms develop within two weeks of their return, please seek immediate medical attention and inform the physician of their travel history. 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).