On World Mosquito Day yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) urged people to take anti-malarial drugs and use personal protection against mosquitoes when visiting places where the disease is spreading.
Two malaria cases have been confirmed in Taiwan this year, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said, adding that neither person took anti-malarial drugs before traveling abroad, where they contracted the disease.
The first case involved a woman in her 40s from central Taiwan who visited Nigeria from June 21 to July 3, he said.
Photo: CNA
She began to experience symptoms and saw a doctor on July 9 and was diagnosed with malaria when she sought treatment again on July 16, Chuang said, adding that she has been cured and discharged.
The second case was confirmed last week: a man in his 40s from southern Taiwan who visited Uganda with 10 other members of a volunteer service team from July 27 to Aug. 8, Chuang said.
The man visited a travel medicine clinic before the trip, but did not take anti-malarial drugs he was prescribed because he was afraid that it would cause adverse side effects, he said.
The man began experiencing symptoms on Monday last week, returned to Taiwan on Thursday and has been hospitalized for treatment, he added.
Malaria is not endemic to Taiwan and no indigenous cases have been reported in several years, Chuang said, adding that local health departments would continue to monitor the two cases until tests results are negative.
Malaria spreads among people when a mosquito acquires the disease from biting an infected person and bites another person, the CDC said.
Early symptoms include a fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, nausea, vomiting and fatigue, it said, adding that more severe symptoms when left untreated include the enlargement of the spleen, jaundice, shock, liver failure, pulmonary edema, acute encephalopathy and unconsciousness.
People should visit a travel medicine clinic at least one month before traveling to regions where malaria is endemic, take anti-malarial drugs and use personal protection against mosquitoes to prevent becoming infected, the agency said.
Separately yesterday, the CDC confirmed two new cases of measles associated with a cluster of cases at Cathay General Hospital in Taipei last week.
It urged people to wear a surgical mask when in hospitals or crowded places, and to consult a doctor if vaccination is needed before traveling to places where measles is spreading.
The agency also reported two new cases of serious enterovirus complication in two-year-olds last week.
It urged parents whose child has an enterovirus infection to watch out for signs of serious complications and see a doctor immediately if the condition worsens.
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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