A scholar yesterday voiced concern that an outbreak of dengue fever concentrated in southern Taiwan this year could become a nationwide epidemic.
Nevertheless, the deputy director-general of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Chiang Ying-lung (
As of yesterday afternoon, the CDC had confirmed 859 cases of dengue fever: 453 in Kaohsiung City, 397 in Kaohsiung County, three in Pingtung County and one each in Chiayi County, Taoyuan County, Taichung City, Taichung County, Taipei City and Taipei County.
Of these reported cases, 15 have been confirmed as dengue hemorrhagic fever -- the more severe form of the disease.
In a press conference hosted by the Environmental Protection Administration, Hsu Err-lieh (徐爾烈) of National Taiwan University's Department of Entomology, said that it is possible that there will be more than 1,000 dengue cases this year.
Hsu said that he was worried that the outbreak, which began in Kaohsiung in late June, might develop into a nationwide epidemic.
However, Chiang responded by urging the public to take preventative measures.
"I can't say whether or not the disease will become a nationwide epidemic," Chiang said. "However, rather than focusing attention on how many new cases are reported every day, I think it's more important to focus our energy on stopping the disease from spreading."
Chiang urged the public to help the government's disinfectant spraying program by destroying the breeding areas of mosquitoes that spread the disease.
Taiwan is not the only country fighting an unusually widespread dengue outbreak this year, Chiang said, with countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore also having an unusually large number of dengue cases.
The reasons behind the higher number of dengue cases are complicated, he said.
"The rapid rise in temperature caused by the El Nino phenomenon as well as people's lack of understanding about the seriousness of the disease all could be factors that are contributing to the outbreak's development," Chiang said.
Dengue fever is transmitted to humans from the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
The incubation period for dengue fever is three to 14 days and there is no known vaccine.
Symptoms of the disease include high fever, severe headache, rash, backache, joint pain and nausea.
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