The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) confirmed the bug bite case in a 29-year-old female who resides in Shuangxi District, New Taipei City was caused by Dermacentor taiwanesis. This is the second tick bite case confirmed in Taiwan in recorded since the first case identified in Hualien County in 2011. Taiwan CDC urges the public to take precautions against bug bites, including wearing long-sleeved clothes and long pants and using insect repellent, when going out and farming, avoid visiting wooded, brushy and grassy areas or areas that lack environmental sanitation and hygeiene, and avoid coming into contact with animals.

Around early May, the woman and her daughter found bug bites along the hairline and on the inside of the arms and thighs.   Gradually, the bite marks got larger and turned red and itchy. In early June, when the woman used tweezers to remove a bug from the site of a wound and sought medical attention at a health center, she was suspected of Lyme disease and reported to the competent health authority. The bug was submitted to Taiwan CDC for identification and was preliminarily identified as the nymph of Dermacentor taiwanesis. In addition, the blood sample of the case was tested negative for Lyme disease.  

According to Taiwan CDC, the case has not traveled out of the country during the past three months. She farms occasionally. The neighbor keeps a cat that her daughter often plays with. Moreover, the tick removed from the case was at the third stage of the tick’s four-stage life cycle and was about 0.14 cm in size. Further tests will be conducted to determine if the tick carries pathogen.

The primary habitat for Dermacentor taiwanesis is secondary forest. They appear during February each year and can be found on host animals till December.   Their primary hosts include wild boars and Formosan black bears. They also feed on rodents and other small mammals.

Taiwan CDC advises the public to seek immediate medical attention when bitten by tick, mite or flea and observe the bite site for any signs of an expanding red rash. When a hard tick bites, it inserts its proboscis into the skin. The proboscis should be immediately and carefully removed from the bite site using tweezers without crushing it and leaving broken pieces in the skin. Submitting the biting bug to the health authority for identification will also facilitate diagnosis.

For more information, 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.