On January 29, 2013, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced four new indigenous cases of dengue fever, including two cases that occurred in Tainan City and two cases that occurred in Kaohsiung City, were confirmed last week (January 22 and 28). Since the beginning of the 2012 summer, a cumulative total of 1,268 dengue cases have been confirmed, including 746 cases that reside in Tainan City, 503 cases that reside in Kaohsiung City, 7 cases that reside in Taoyuan County, 5 cases that reside in New Taipei City, and one case that resides in Taipei City, Miaoli County, Yunlin County, Chiayi County, Pingtung County, Taitung County and Penghu County. Hence, Taiwan CDC urges the public to continue to thoroughly clean up and remove any vector-breeding sites in and around residencesbefore the Chinese New Year holiday in order to effectively prevent further transmission.

The four new cases of dengue fever confirmed last week respectively are a 30-year-old female who resides in Cianjin District, Kaoshiung City, a 59-year-old female who resides in Lingya District, Kaohsiung City, and a 16-year-old male and a 17-year-old male who reside in South District, Tainan City. Although the overall dengue activity has been on decline, sporadic cases have continued to occur in Tainan City and Kaohsiung City. Therefore, efforts to remove vector breeding sites are needed in order to prevent the epidemic from dragging into winter.

Taiwan CDC once again reminds the public that there is no specific vaccine or medicine to prevent or treat dengue fever. Vector control measures such as removing standing water and reducing the number of water-storage containers in and around residence remain the most effective way to prevent dengue transmission. As a result, Taiwan CDC would like to urge the public to recycle/dispose of any unnecessary containers to eliminate potential vector breeding sites during the Chinese New Year holiday. In addition, large, bulky items can be disposed of through arranging an appointment with the cleaning unit for bulky trash collection service. 

As people travel more often during the winter break and Chinese New Year holiday, Taiwan CDC urges travelers visiting areas affected by dengue fever 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, fatigue, retroorbital pain, myalgia, and arthragia 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 on dengue fever or dengue hemorrhagic fever, please call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Care Hotline, 1922, or 0800-024582 if calling from a cell phone, or visit the Taiwan CDC’s website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw.