On February 19, 2013, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced the second imported case of measles confirmed this year. The case is an 11-month-old baby boy who resides in southern Taiwan. During November, 2012, he traveled to China with his parents to visit relatives. During mid-January, 2013, he sought medical attention at a local hospital when he developed cough and running nose. He was hospitalized for treatment and later discharged when his symptoms improved. On January 28, 2013, he returned to Taiwan. On January 30, 2013, he developed rashes and was reported to the health authority as a measles case after seeking medical attention. As of now, the case has recovered and been discharged. As the case was still infectious on his flight back to Taiwan, the health authority has compiled a list of contacts, including 20 passengers on the same flight and 119 hospital patients and medical personnel at the hospital, to monitor their health and administer follow up activities such as post-exposure prophylaxis. As of now, none of the contacts has developed suspected symptoms.

The best way to prevent measles is vaccination. In Taiwan, the existing routine childhood vaccination schedule recommends a dose of MMR vaccine to children 12 months of age and another dose to first graders in elementary schools. According to surveillance data, Taiwan CDC points out that as there are still ongoing outbreaks in neighboring countries such as China and countries in Southeast Asia and outbreaks have also occurred in the regions of Americas and Europe, imported cases of measles are inevitable due to frequent international travel. Unvaccinated infants and children, those who do not receive vaccine in a timely manner and those who have never been infected with measles are high-risk groups. Therefore, Taiwan CDC once again reminds parents the importance of timely vaccination for children. In addition, parents are advised against bringing children below the age of one and have not received the MMR vaccine to areas affected by measles before completing the vaccination to prevent infection.

Measles is a highly infectious respiratory disease that is spread by contact with droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of an infected person, either directly or through aerosol transmission. An infected person remains infectious four days before and after the development of rashes. Early symptoms include fever (over 38℃), coryza, cough, and conjunctivitis. Rash usually starts from behind the ears and spread to the face and down across the body. Although the MMR vaccine coverage rate has remained high (>95%) in Taiwan over the recent years, approximately some tens of measles cases, which are mostly imported cases and cases that become infected by the imported case, still occur annually. Hence, measles continues to pose a threat to the health of the people in Taiwan. Taiwan CDC reminds the public to seek immediate medical attention when sick and avoid going to work or school or taking public transportation to reduce further transmission. In addition, Taiwan CDC also urges physicians to stay vigilant. If a patient develops symptoms pertaining to measles infection such as fever and rash, the physician should consider the patient’s recent travel history and vaccination history when diagnosing and report any suspected cases to the health authority as soon as possible. In addition, people who return from endemic areas and seek medical attention should inform the physician of their recent travel history to facilitate diagnosis and prompt treatment. For any questions or further information, 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.