Taiwan reports first case of chikungunya virus from China outbreak

The mosquito-borne microorganism has crossed the Taiwan Strait from confederate China, wherever confirmed cases of chikungunya apical 8,000.

Taiwan has reported its archetypal confirmed lawsuit of chikungunya fever, imported from China, wherever a historical outbreak of the mosquito-borne microorganism is nether way.

Chikungunya has swept done confederate China successful caller weeks, chiefly successful the manufacturing hub of Foshan connected the Pearl River Delta, with cases rising to much than 8,000. The outbreak is the largest connected record, according to Roger Hewson, microorganism surveillance pb astatine the United Kingdom’s Wellcome Sanger Institute.

Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said connected Friday that the chikungunya microorganism was detected successful a Taiwanese pistillate who had travelled to Foshan and returned to Taiwan connected July 30.

It was the archetypal lawsuit of its benignant detected truthful acold successful 2025, though much than a twelve cases person been antecedently detected and originated successful Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

The CDC has raised its question advisory for China’s Guangdong province, the epicentre of the outbreak, to level 2 retired of 3, urging travellers to usage “enhanced precautions”.

The microorganism tin pb to precocious fever, rash, headache, nausea and fatigue lasting up to 7 days, and musculus and associated symptom that tin past for respective weeks.

“The outbreak successful Foshan and surrounding areas of Guangdong state has unfolded rapidly and astatine a standard unprecedented for China,” Hewson said successful a statement.

The surge is owed to constricted immunity successful China and “environmental suitability” for the virus-carrying Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which breed successful stagnant water, helium said.

Chinese wellness authorities person responded with containment strategies ranging from household-level inspections and enforced furniture nets, to drone-based fogging and adjacent quarantines, reminiscent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hewson said.

The Associated Press quality bureau reported that residents of Foshan tin beryllium fined arsenic overmuch arsenic up to 10,000 RMB ($1,400) for keeping h2o successful outdoor containers – a fashionable breeding crushed for mosquitoes.

The outbreak follows much than a period of typhoons and heavier-than-usual monsoon rains successful China.

Last week, Hong Kong – located immoderate 180km (110 miles) from Foshan – was deed by its worst August rainstorm since records began successful 1884.

Chinese authorities media said contempt the historical fig of chikungunya cases, the outbreak appears to person yet peaked.

Foshan reported 2,892 section infections from July 27 to August 2, but nary terrible oregon fatal cases, according to China’s state-run Xinhua quality agency.

“The caller surge has been initially contained, with a downward inclination successful recently reported cases crossed the province,” Kang Min, manager of the infectious illness power institute astatine the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told Xinhua.