Taiwan health officials are reporting slightly different dengue fever activity in Tainan City and Kaohsiung City as the cumulative count in the country has seen a new low since September.

The current country tally as of Monday shows 23,456, including 89 fatalities.

Image/CDC
Image/CDC

The number of cases in Tainan accounts for the bulk in the country with more than 19,000. The good news is. the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) for Dengue Outbreak reports the number of average new weekly cases reported in Tainan City has been on the decline, indicating dengue activity in the city is slowing down.

However, the number of average new weekly cases reported in Kaohsiung City has been on the rise, prompting the city government to plan to strengthen their prevention and control efforts.  To date, 3,645 cases have been reported in Kaohsiung.

As fall approaches and the weather gets colder, CECC for Dengue Outbreak reminds the public to continue to periodically clean and empty water container in and around their residences and dengue symptoms are similar to those of influenza-like illness.

In addition, travelers visiting areas affected by dengue are advised to take precautions against mosquito bites such as wearing light-colored clothing, long sleeves and long pants, and applying officially approved mosquito repellent to exposed parts of the body.

After returning home from the affected area, please monitor your own health for signs of suspected symptoms. If symptoms such as fever, headache, retroorbital pain, myalgia, arthralgia, and rash develop, please seek immediate medical attention and inform the doctor of any relevant medical history, recent travel history and activity to facilitate prompt diagnosis and case reporting.

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Robert Herriman is a microbiologist and the Editor-in-Chief of Outbreak News Today and the Executive Editor of The Global Dispatch

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