The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first confirmed case of indigenous dengue fever in its epidemic season this year, saying it involved a woman in her 40s from Dagang Village (大港里) in North District, Greater Tainan.
The infected person was suffering from a fever and sore muscles when she went to a clinic on Wednesday. She went to a second clinic on Saturday, where doctors suspected it was a case of dengue fever and reported it to the local department of health, the CDC said, adding that it was confirmed yesterday.
As of Saturday, there are 14 confirmed cases of indigenous dengue fever this year, but 13 of those were cases that extended from last year’s epidemic season, the CDC said, adding that the epidemic season for indigenous dengue fever in the past few years was mainly between June and August.
Photo provided by the Greater Tainan Department of Health
It also said that with the first case appearing earlier than previously, and with twice the number of cases from overseas this year — 58 reported cases before May 3, compared with 24 cases in the same season last year — and the advent of the plum rain season, the department faces a tougher time controlling the disease this year.
The local department of health has already finished investigating the case, as well as determining the density of dengue fever mosquitoes near the infected person’s home, the CDC said, adding that the department will also initiate emergency measures to eliminate dengue fever mosquitoes and reduce their breeding sources.
It urged the public to reduce standing water in the home environment to stop mosquitoes from breeding, and to quickly see a doctor if symptoms of fever, headache with retro-orbital (behind the eye) pain, joint or muscle soreness, nausea or vomiting occur.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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