Taiwan reports more measles in past week
The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced Tuesday 4 new confirmed cases of measles in the country (1 local and 3 imported cases).
The local case was a male in his 20s from the north. He was a new case in the workplace cluster infection incident caused by imported cases announced a few days ago. He had common space exposure with the confirmed case and developed a rash 7 days after the contact. After reporting to the doctor, he was diagnosed with the disease.
A total of 460 people have been identified as his contacts. A total of 3 cases have been confirmed in this cluster incident so far, and health authorities will continue to monitor it until May 14.
The 3 imported cases were a male in his 20s from the south, a male in his 30s from the north, and a female in her 30s from the north. All of them traveled to Vietnam in early April. The 2 cases in the north were friends who traveled with the same traveler. The above 3 cases became ill 10 to 12 days after returning to the country and were diagnosed with the disease after reporting to the doctor.
According to the CDC, there have been a total of 32 measles cases in Taiwan, of which 12 were domestically infected cases and the other 20 were imported cases, all from Vietnam.
The number of domestically infected and imported cases this year is the highest in the same period in the past six years.
The CDC stated that measles is highly contagious, with an incubation period of approximately 7 to 18 days, and up to 21 days.
Currently, the measles epidemic continues in Vietnam. Taiwanese returning from Vietnam and other epidemic areas, if they have suspected measles symptoms such as fever, runny nose, red eyes, cough, rash, etc., should proactively inform airport quarantine personnel upon entry and cooperate with health assessments. If suspected measles symptoms develop within 3 weeks after returning to the country, they should wear a mask to seek medical attention as soon as possible, and proactively inform their doctors of their travel history and related contact history.
When seeing patients, doctors should inquire about TOCC (travel history, occupational history, contact history, group history) and measles-related vaccination history. If a suspected measles case is found, it should be reported within 24 hours and appropriate infection control measures should be taken. People who have been listed as contacts are also reminded to conduct self-health management for 18 days. If any suspected symptoms occur during this period, do not ignore it or seek medical treatment on your own. You should contact the health unit as soon as possible to arrange for medical treatment and inform them of your contact history. During the period of self-health management, you should avoid going to public places, contacting immunocompromised people, pregnant women or infants who have not been vaccinated with MMR vaccine, and try to wear a mask to reduce the risk of virus transmission.
The CDC urges families with children aged 1 year or above to take them to a health center or contract vaccination agency to receive the MMR vaccine as soon as possible according to the schedule, and to avoid taking children under 1 year old or who have not been vaccinated to epidemic areas. If the public must travel to a measles-endemic area with an infant aged 6 months or older but under 1 year old, they can go to a health center or travel medicine clinic for evaluation and receive the MMR vaccine at their own expense 2 to 4 weeks before departure to reduce the risk of infection.