A woman who returned from a trip to Malaysia was yesterday confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as the 10th imported Zika virus case in Taiwan.
The woman, who is in her 50s and lives in Taoyuan, was part of a tour group that visited Sabah between Sept. 23 and Sept. 27.
She began experiencing headaches, rashes, muscle pain and other symptoms on Wednesday last week, but did not seek medical attention until the rashes spread over her body and she had a mild fever.
The CDC said that she was most likely infected during her brief travel to Malaysia.
Other than when seeking medical treatment, the woman only traveled between her home and workplace after returning to Taiwan. Her family members and colleagues have not reported any symptoms, the centers said.
The CDC said the woman has returned home for recovery, with mosquito prevention quarantine measures to be undertaken at her home until Sunday, adding that the agency is to follow up with the 71 other people who were part of the same tour group.
CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said Southeast Asia is the most common region for Taiwanese visitors that has the Zika virus and imported cases have included two from Thailand and Vietnam, and one each from Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.
People should avoid mosquito bites when visiting these countries, the CDC said.
Meanwhile, the centers also said that those found giving false information about flu vaccines face a NT$500,000 fine under the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法).
A rumor on messaging app Line claimed: “Government-funded flu vaccines are all ineffective, many of them are not approved by the WHO, and a US official said the vaccines are actually expired vaccines imported from China and other countries.”
The CDC said the government-funded vaccines are purchased from a local company, Adimmune Corp, French company Sanofi and Italian company Novartis.
All imported vaccines have passed the European Medicines Agency standards and are WHO-recommended influenza virus trivalent vaccines for the northern hemisphere 2016-2017, it added.
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