A Taipei resident has been confirmed to be infected with measles and is suspected to have come into contact with nearly 250 people during the incubation period, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said.
The 20-something woman, who works at a restaurant at the ATT 4 Fun shopping center in Xinyi District (信義), might have contracted the virus from foreign visitors at her workplace, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said in a statement on Monday.
The woman on Monday last week developed a fever, cough and sore throat, and had rashes on her body and face the next day. She sought treatment at a hospital on Wednesday last week, which confirmed the infection two days later.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
She remains quarantined at home, Lo said.
The CDC has traced 247 people who might have come into contact with the woman, including her family, colleagues and healthcare personnel, the agency said, adding that contact tracing would continue until March 27.
During the incubation period from March 1 to Wednesday last week, she took the No. 912 bus to commute and visited Metrowalk Shopping Center in Taoyuan, among other places, the CDC said.
The CDC urged people who take that bus and had visited the mall to monitor their health condition for 18 days.
The case has brought the total number of confirmed measles cases in the nation to 29 since the beginning of this year, 13 of which were imported, the CDC said.
Eight of the domestic cases were linked to imported cases, it added.
Measles is highly contagious and is in peak transmission season, Lo said.
Outbreaks in several Asian countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, China, India and Indonesia, have been growing, he said.
As of Feb. 24, the number of measles cases in Japan had reached 258, the highest since 2009, Lo added.
Children under one should be vaccinated against measles in a timely manner and unvaccinated children should not be taken to affected areas, he said.
If travel is unavoidable, children aged from six months to one year should be given a single dose of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine prior to travel, Lo said.
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