The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced this year’s first rubella case of 2017 today in a 34-year-old male who resides in northern Taiwan.
According to the CDC:
On March 11, the case left for the Philippines. On June 4, he returned to Taiwan via Flight BR272. He arrived in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at around 3pm and took a cab home. According to the case, he developed cough on May 27, and then headache and rash on May 29. He was diagnosed with measles in the Philippines on May 30 after seeking medical attention locally. Although his symptoms had subsided after he returned home on June 4, he immediately sought further medical attention at a hospital in Taiwan to confirm if he was indeed infected with measles. After the hospital collected specimens from the case for laboratory testing, infection with rubella (German measles) was confirmed in the case on June 7. As the case was in the Philippines during the incubation period, it is determined that the case is an imported case.
To prevent further transmission of the disease, the local health authority has implemented a number of prevention measures and identified 60 contacts, including his family members who reside in the same household, passengers sitting in adjacent rows (including the cabin crew) on the same flight, healthcare personnel and patients that he came into contact with when he sought medical attention, to monitor and follow up until June 26, 2017. Among the contacts, none of them is pregnant and none of them has developed suspected symptoms. At the same time, passengers who were on the same flights on the same day are urged to conduct self-health management for 21 days till June 25. If suspected symptoms develop, please put on a mask immediately, seek prompt medical attention and voluntarily notify the physician of the relevant exposure history.
Last year, a cumulative total of 4 rubella cases were confirmed in Taiwan, including 1 indigenous case and 3 imported cases from India, Hong Kong and China.
According to the US CDC, Rubella is a contagious disease caused by a virus. Most people who get rubella usually have a mild illness, with symptoms that can include a low-grade fever, sore throat, and a rash that starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body. Rubella can cause a miscarriage or serious birth defects in an developing baby if a woman is infected while she is pregnant. The best protection against rubella is MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine.
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