On June 7, 2009, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced two newly confirmed imported cases of influenza A (H1N1) in Taiwan, which are the 18th and 19th confirmed cases in Taiwan.

The eighteenth case is a 32-year-old, Taiwan-born female who traveled to Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, Australia from May 30 to June 5, 2009 with her husband and a tour group. In the evening of June 5, 2009, the case arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and was detected with a temperature of 38.5℃ by the fever screening station in the airport.She was immediately rushed to the Tao Yuan General Hospital for isolation treatment.In the evening of June 6, 2009, influenza A (H1N1) infection was confirmed in the case.According to the case, she developed symptoms such as fatigue and dry cough on June 4, 2009.However, she did not wear a facemask throughout her trip to Australia.A total of 15 people, including the tour guide, attended the tour group.Further, the case’s husband is at a higher risk of infection.Therefore, the case’s husband has been listed as a person under investigation, specimen has been collected from him, and he has been sent to the isolation ward for treatment. The rest of the 13 tour group members and 29 passengers who were sitting close to the case on the flight have been asked to conduct self-health management.

The nineteenth case is a 15-year-old, American-born male who lives in Utah, the United States. On June 4, 2009, the case traveled to Taiwan with his mother to visit relatives from Los Angeles through Tokyo and arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at night of June 5, 2009.Upon arrival, he was detected with a body temperature of 38℃ by the fever screening station in the airport.The case was immediately rushed to the Tao Yuan General Hospital for isolation treatment.In the evening of June 6, 2009, influenza A (H1N1) infection was confirmed in the case.According to the case’s mother, he experienced discomfort on June 4, 2009. However, he did not wear a facemask throughout his flight back to Taiwan.On June 5, 2009, the case started to develop symptoms such as fever, chills, sore throat and running nose.Since the case’s mother has also experienced influenza-like symptoms, she has been listed as a person under investigation, specimen has been collected from her, and she has been sent to the isolation ward for treatment. The other 6 close contacts of the case have been asked to conduct self-health management.

CECC indicated that since the eighteenth case was the first case of influenza A (H1N1) infection imported from Australia, it shows that the influenza A (H1N1) outbreak has spread from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere. Moreover, according to the epidemic surveillance data in Australia, besides the influenza A (H1N1) virus, three other strains of influenza virus are currently circulating in Australia. As a result, CECC urges people planning to visit Australia to pay attention to disease prevention.

CECC has reported the two cases to the World Health Organization.