As the Zika virus continues to spread worldwide, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) continues to closely monitor the health of Taiwanese nationals visiting affected areas. During the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, a total of 13 tour groups consisting of 254 travelers, including the tour guides, visited Latin America. As of now, 4 tour groups comprising of 84 travelers have returned to Taiwan and none of them are infected with Zika virus.

One of the 84 travelers experienced fever and was detected at the fever screening station at the airport. The blood sample taken at the airport quarantine station ruled out Zika virus infection and dengue fever. The other 83 travelers are healthy. At the moment, 9 groups of 170 travelers are still in Latin America and will be returning to Taiwan soon. Taiwan CDC will closely monitor the health of these travelers. Pregnant women are advised to postpone their trips to areas where Zika virus is active, travelers are advised to avoid mosquito bites, and people returning from Zika-affected areas are advised to use condoms when having sex for at least 28 days to prevent Zika transmission.

On February 19, 2016, Taiwan CDC scaled up the travel notice level for Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean and Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean to Level 2: Alert for Zika virus based on the latest updates on recent local transmission of Zika virus provided by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

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.

Zika virus is transmitted by the same type of mosquitoes that transmit dengue virus, Aedes mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Typical symptoms include fever accompanied by a maculopapular rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis. Other symptoms include headache, muscle pain and pain behind the eyes. 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. Hence, Taiwan CDC will continue to closely monitor the numbers of microcephaly and GBS cases in Taiwan and urges physicians to heighten vigilance for microcephaly cases. 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 or +886-800-001922 when overseas).