Taiwan has confirmed its fourth imported case of Zika virus infection, involving a 43-year-old Taiwanese woman who appears to have contracted the disease in the Caribbean, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
It is the first confirmed case of Zika infection involving a Taiwanese.
The woman spent five months in the island nation of St Vincent with her husband and went to see a doctor for nausea, a fever, joint pain and muscle pain on July 26, two days after returning to Taiwan, CDC Director-General Kuo Hsu-sung (郭旭松) said.
The patient consulted a doctor again on July 29 after developing a reddish rash on her face and limbs, Kuo told a news conference in Taipie. Test results on Wednesday confirmed she had been infected with the Zika virus, he said.
Lab tests show that the virus strain that the woman had contracted is similar to the one found in the French territory of Martinique, Panama and Colombia.
The woman, who was not pregnant, has been asked to refrain from contact with others until tomorrow and to not become pregnant in the next two months, Kuo said.
Zika infection during pregnancy can cause microcephaly and other brain malformations in some babies.
Taiwan’s three previous Zika cases involved two Thai nationals and a fishery worker from Indonesia.
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