Taipei City health authorities yesterday confirmed the first case of locally contracted dengue fever in the capital.
Taipei City's Bureau of Health said that a woman living in Nung Chang Li (
She was confirmed to have caught dengue fever on Saturday, the bureau said.
Although more than 700 dengue cases have been confirmed around the country this year, including several in Taipei City of people who contracted the disease abroad, the bureau said this was the first case where the patient had caught the disease here.
The woman had traveled to Penghu from July 12 to July 15, but the bureau said that it was unlikely she had caught the disease on her trip.
"The incubation period [of dengue fever] does not really match the time when she was in Penghu and there have been no cases of dengue fever reported in Penghu this year," Lai An-chih (
The incubation period for dengue fever is usually three to 14 days.
The bureau has sprayed disinfectant in the neighborhoods where the woman lives and works to try to destroy the breeding grounds of the mosquito that carries the disease.
It has also taken blood samples from more than 170 residents in Nung Chang Li, all of which tested negative for the disease.
Meanwhile, the bureau also said yesterday that another case in which the victim contracted the disease overseas was confirmed on Aug. 1, bringing to 11 the number of such infections in Taipei City.
The 11 people had traveled to Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines and Thailand.
Last year, there were four local dengue fever cases reported in Taipei City, and none the year before.
According to Center for Dis-ease Control, this year's outbreak of dengue fever, which has been concentrated in Kaohsiung city and county, is the most serious in 14 years.
Health bureaus have been advising residents to clean mosquito breeding areas, such as stagnant water, to help contain the disease.
Dengue fever, a viral infection common in tropical and subtropical regions, is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
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