On September 18, 2016, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced this summer’s second indigenous dengue case confirmed in Tainan City.　　The case is a 19-year-old male who resides in Rende District, Tainan City. Beginning September 10, he developed symptoms such as fever and discomfort. On September 12 and 14, he respectively sought medical attention at a clinic. On September 16, when his symptoms persisted and rash developed, he sought further medical attention at the emergency department at a hospital. Infection with dengue virus was then laboratory confirmed. The number of days between his symptom onset date and the date of reporting his case to the health authority is 6. The case is found to be infected with DEN-1. As of now, the case is still hospitalized for treatment.

According to the epidemiological investigation, the case had not recently traveled, either domestically or internationally. The case’s primary areas of daily activities include places around his residence (Baoan Village, Rende District, Tainan City) and his workplace (Yusheng Village, East District, Tainan City). His workplace is approximately 150 meters away from the residence of the dengue case that was confirmed in Tainan City in the end of August. Hence, the two cases appear to be highly related in terms of reporting date and geography. To prevent the further spread of the disease, 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 workplace, monitoring and following up on the case’s close contacts, providing the public with relevant health education, and advising physicians working in the healthcare facilities in the neighborhood to heighten vigilance for suspected cases and reinforce case-reporting. 

Since the beginning of this summer on May 1, 2016, a total of 5 indigenous dengue cases have been reported in Taiwan, including 2 cases respectively in Tainan City and Kaohsiung City and 1 case in Pingtung County. Thus far this year, a cumulative total of 377 dengue cases have been reported in Taiwan. In addition, as of September 16, 2016, a cumulative total of 260 imported dengue cases have been confirmed in Taiwan, which is higher than that during the same period in the past years, and they were mostly from Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia and the Philippines. Several countries in Southeast and South Asia have recently reported an increasing or rather high level of dengue activity. For instance, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, and Sri Lanka have all reported higher dengue activity this year as compared to last year. 

The heavy downpour brought by typhoons during the Mid-Autumn Festival has resulted in serious floods in several areas in Taiwan. As the one week after the typhoon is a crucial period of time to augment ongoing dengue prevention and control efforts, Taiwan CDC urges the public to attend to their environmental hygiene through voluntarily and promptly emptying and cleaning any standing water around their residence, including those on the rooftop and in the basement, and draining or removing any unused containers that collect standing water such as used tires, cans, canvas, plastic bottles, and plant pots in order to reduce the breeding of vector mosquitoes and prevent the transmission of dengue fever. 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).