Taipei: Two cases of measles infections have been diagnosed in central Taiwan, marking the second measles cluster of the year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Thursday.
According to Focus Taiwan, the index case is a man in his 40s who was infected in Malaysia during a business trip from late January to early February. Seven days after returning to Taiwan, the man developed symptoms including fever, cough, runny nose, pink eye, and rashes. After initial treatments proved ineffective, he was diagnosed with measles on February 13 at a hospital.
The second patient is a woman in her 20s who developed symptoms 18 days after coming into contact with the index case at a local hospital. CDC spokesperson Lin Ming-cheng stated that the 57 contacts of the index case have completed their monitoring period. However, contacts of the second case, totaling 87, will be monitored until March 22.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease with early symptoms resembling a common cold. The virus can spread through the air, respiratory droplets, or direct contact with respiratory secretions from four days before to four days after the rash appears.
Lin mentioned that Taiwan has seen four measles cases so far this year, with ages ranging from 1 to over 40 years old. Two of these cases are domestic, while the other two are imported from Vietnam and Malaysia. Lin emphasized that despite measles' high contagion rate, Taiwan's high vaccine-coverage rate makes an outbreak unlikely. However, individuals in contact with measles patients should follow Taiwan's measles protocols and report their status to local health agencies.