A New Taipei City woman has been diagnosed with chikungunya, the second indigenous case ever reported in Taiwan, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Monday.
The patient, in her 60s, sought medical attention after developing a high fever and muscle and joint pain on Thursday last week, the agency said, adding that the medication she received did not alleviate the symptoms and she was admitted to a hospital the next day.
Doctors originally suspected that she had contracted dengue fever until tests indicated that it was chikungunya, it said.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Department of Health
The woman has since been discharged and confined to her home, where her health is being monitored, it added.
The agency said it found no record of recent travel abroad by the woman, who appeared to have spent most of her time at home in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和).
It was the second indigenous chikungunya case ever reported in Taiwan. The first was reported last month in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城).
Like dengue fever, chikungunya is transmitted by virus-carrying mosquitoes and has an incubation period of two to 12 days.
Also like dengue fever, symptoms include the sudden onset of fever; headaches; joint and muscle pain; nausea; and fatigue.
The agency said the woman likely contracted the disease somewhere in Jhonghe, because there were two imported chikungunya cases in the district last month and earlier this month.
The neighborhood where the woman lives has been disinfected to prevent mosquito proliferation, it said.
Eleven people who had recent contact with the woman have so far shown no sign of infection, it added.
Also on Monday, two imported chikungunya cases were confirmed in Yilan County, the agency said, adding that the infected people were believed to have contracted the disease during visits to Myanmar.
Both have recovered and have been confined to their homes, it added.
There have been 47 confirmed chikungunya cases in Taiwan this year, agency data showed.
Of the imported cases, 28 came from Myanmar, seven from Thailand, five from the Maldives, two from Indonesia and one each from the Philippines, Malaysia and India, the data showed.
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