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CDC acts to limit dengue's spread

Personnel from the Fachih borough office, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health spray chemicals to prevent the spread of dengue fever after an alert was issued for Fachih Borough in Ta-an District, Taipei, yesterday. PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES

Quoting a WHO forecast, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) warned yesterday of a possible worldwide outbreak of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease.

CDC officials called for citizens who have traveled abroad to contact health agencies for checkups upon their return and for those who stay at home to clean mosquito-infested areas such as stagnant water in ponds and sewers, as well as any standing water that does not contain pesticides -- even in the saucers under potted plants -- to help contain the disease.

According to CDC information, 720 cases of dengue have been reported in Taiwan so far this year, with 12 cases involving the potentially deadly form of the disease -- dengue hemorrhagic fever. Most cases have been reported in southern Taiwan, marking the nation's most serious dengue threat in 14 years.

Of the 720 reported cases, 695 were confirmed as endemic dengue fever, all originating from Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County.

A total of 25 cases were found to have originated from abroad, brought in by returning visitors to Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries.

According to the CDC, some 550,000 suspected dengue cases were reported in Brazil in the first six months of this year. Of the total, about 200,000 cases were dengue hemorrhagic fever, which has already killed 84 people there.

In Malaysia, more than 3,000 cases had been reported as of July 31 and thousands of similar cases were reported in some Central American countries, CDC officials said.

Dengue fever, which ravaged Taiwan in the early 1930s with nearly 80 percent of Taiwan's population contracting the disease, seems to have affected Taiwan according to a pattern whereby the nation experiences a smaller-scale epidemic every three years and a major outbreak every 10 years, the officials said.

Meanwhile, Environmental Protection Administrator Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) announced a nationwide effort to destroy mosquitoes, their larvae and mosquito-infested environments from Saturday until Aug. 18.

Violators of the Disease Control Law and the Waste Management Statute will face fines ranging from NT$1,200 to NT$150,000.

Four types of the virus that causes dengue fever have been found and patients with more than one type of virus can develop symptoms that include bleeding of the gums, the skin and the intestinal tract, in addition to the classic symptoms of sudden high fever, severe headache, nausea and vomiting as well as muscle and joint pain.
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