On July 23, 2013, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) confirmed this dengue epidemic season’s first indigenous case of dengue fever in Kaoshiung City in a 58-year-old female who lives by herself in Lingya District. On July 6, she sought medical attention when she developed symptoms, including headache, diarrhea, muscle ache, joint pain, loss of appetite and fever. When her symptoms persisted, she sought further medical attention twice, once at a clinic and once at a hospital. On July 15, she was reported to the health authority as a suspected dengue case. On July 22, her infection with dengue virus was confirmed. The Kaohsiung City Government has implemented various measures to prevent further spread of the disease, including conducting an expanded epidemic investigation, investigating the mosquito density in and around the case’s residence and places frequently visited by the case, conducting a thorough cleaning of vector breeding sites, and spraying insecticide.

During July 16 and 22, 2013, 3 new indigenous cases of dengue fever and 11 imported cases of dengue fever were confirmed. 2 of the 3 newly confirmed indigenous dengue cases reside in Pingtung County and the other one newly confirmed case resides in Kaohsiung City. As of July 22, 2013, a cumulative total of 74 indigenous dengue cases and 118 imported dengue cases have been confirmed this year.Among the indigenous dengue cases, 57 cases have been confirmed in Pingtung County (36 cases in Chunri Township 11 cases in Xinyuan Township, and 10 cases in Chaozhou Township), 10 cases have been confirmed in Tainan City, and 7 cases have been confirmed in Kaohsiung City.

Taiwan CDC stresses that the number of indigenous dengue cases confirmed this year is significantly higher than that during the same period in the last three years and the ongoing dengue outbreaks in countries in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Singapore and Laos, are more severe than those occurred in the previous years. In addition to the summer travel season and hot weather during July and September, southern Taiwan is prone to heavy downpours. As a result, floods due to heavy rainfalls will likely facilitate mosquito growth and the mosquito density in the community will likely increase, challenging this year’s dengue control efforts.

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. Taiwan CDC urges travelers visiting countries in southeast Asia and areas at risk for dengue transmission to take precautions against mosquito bites, including 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. Physicians are advised to be vigilant for and notify any suspected cases to the health authority immediately to facilitate implementation of subsequent measures that prevent further spread of the disease. For more information on dengue fever, 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.