Dengue continues to spread in Tainan City and County.Since mid-August, 2010, a total of 53 dengue cases have been reported in Tainan County and 74 cases have been reported in Tainan City, including 3 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome and one of the cases has died.Every year, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) allocates financial aid for dengue control to the governments of cities and counties where Aedes aegypti thrives.This year, Taiwan CDC has distributed $7.61 million to Tainan City and $6.54 million to Tainan County for dengue control.Other measures implemented by Taiwan CDC include community mobilization, vector mosquito population surveillance and sending mobile squads to areas with ongoing outbreaks.In addition, Taiwan CDC also publishes a weekly report on dengue activity to remind the public, clinicians and the local governments to take effective actions against dengue fever.

This year, dengue fever has been running rampant in Tainan City and County.Both the central and local governments have been worried about this year’s epidemic situation lest history is going to repeat itself.In 2007, a total of over 1400 cases of dengue fever occurred in Tainan.Furthermore, four strains of dengue virus are simultaneously circulating in southern Taiwan and people who have been previously infected with one or more types of dengue virus are at greater risk of dengue hemorrhagic fever if infected again and the mortality rate of dengue hemorrhagic fever is relatively high.To reduce dengue transmission in the community and effectively control dengue epidemic, Taiwan CDC urges the public to stay vigilant against the disease and take necessary measures such as draining water containers and cleaning up vector breeding sites and asks the local governments to put up red flag warnings in townships with high mosquito density index to reinforce dengue control promotion and to mobilize community volunteers to clean up vector breeding sites.

For any questions or further information on dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever, please call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline 1922, or visit the Taiwan CDC’s website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw.