On June 18, 2013, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced 4 new indigenous cases of dengue fever and 6 imported cases of dengue fever were confirmed during June 11 and 17, 2013. As of June 17, 2013, a cumulative total of 47 indigenous dengue cases and 76 imported dengue cases have been confirmed this year. The ongoing dengue outbreak in Xinyuan Township and Chunri Township, Pingtung County has spread to Chaozhou Township in the same county. As the summer vacation is approaching and Pingtung County is a popular destination in southern Taiwan among tourists, Taiwan CDC urges the public to clean up vector-breeding sites in and around their residences and take precautions against mosquitoes to prevent further spread of the disease.

The 4 newly confirmed indigenous cases all reside in Pingtung County: 2 reside in Chrunri Township and 2 reside in Chaozhou Township. Thus far this year, a total of 47 indigenous cases have been confirmed, including 31 cases in Pingtung County (26 cases in Chunri Township 3 cases in Xinyuan Township, and 2 cases reside in Chaozhou Township), 10 cases in Tainan City, and 6 cases in Kaohsiung City. According to the statistics compiled by Taiwan CDC, the number of indigenous dengue cases confirmed this year is 1.5 times that reported during the same period in the past three years. In addition, this year’s dengue outbreaks in countries in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, have been more serious than that in the past years. Hence, the risk of travelers contracting dengue fever when visiting these areas is thus elevated. Taiwan CDC urges travelers visiting endemic areas 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.

Taiwan CDC stresses that everyone needs to participate in dengue control efforts in order to successfully contain the epidemic and urges the public to stay vigilant against dengue fever and take necessary measures such as draining water containers and cleaning up vector breeding sites around their residences as well as preventing mosquito bites to effectively prevent the spread of dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever and protect their health and the health of their family. According to Article 70 of the Communicable Disease Control Act, anyone who refuses, evades or obstructs disease control measures such as inspection decided by competent authorities or fails to notify the competent authorities of the presence of vector breeding sites that is later identified by competent authorities or clean up vector breeding sites as requested by competent authorities may be fined NT$ 3,000 up to NT$ 15,000.

 For more information on dengue fever, please call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Care Hotline, 1922, or 0800-001922 if calling from a cell phone, or visit the Taiwan CDC’s website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw.