A one-year-old girl who returned from China with her family has been diagnosed with the nation’s first case of imported measles, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
The centers said the girl, who lives in northern Taiwan, went to China’s Guangdong Province with her family in October last year. She had a cough and a fever on Feb. 22 and rashes on Sunday last week.
She returned to Taiwan on Tuesday, but had been given an antipyretic before boarding the plane, so was not detected as having a fever upon arrival at the airport, the centers said.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said the girl was diagnosed with measles on Friday, and has been hospitalized in an isolation unit.
He said the centers contacted 144 people who might have had contact with the girl, including family members, passengers and flight attendants, and healthcare practitioners. So far none of those contacted have developed similar symptoms, but their health conditions will be monitored until March 18.
Lo said measles can be transmitted by bodily fluids and is caused by an airborne virus, adding that people without immunity are likely to be infected if they are within 1m of an infected person.
The centers said the girl’s younger brother, born in the same year, was diagnosed with measles while the family was in China and had recovered after treatment.
Late winter and early spring are the most common times for measles virus infections to occur, and about 5 percent to 10 percent of people with measles develop middle-ear infections or other complications, Lo said.
He urged people not to expose children who have not been vaccinated against measles to those who have the virus, and babies more than one year old should get a measles, mumps and rubella vaccination.
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