【Health Education Promotion】Happy travels, refuse to let dengue fever come home.

According to the press release from the Centers for Disease Control of the Ministry of Health and Welfare on August 27, 2024, the current dengue fever and chikungunya virus outbreaks in the country are primarily due to imported cases, especially from Southeast Asian and South Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, India, and the Maldives. However, the incubation period for dengue fever is 3 to 14 days, meaning that individuals may return to the country and only then show symptoms after being infected abroad. If these individuals are bitten by Aedes mosquitoes after returning home, those mosquitoes will be capable of transmitting the dengue virus after 8 to 12 days, increasing the risk of local cases. Therefore, students and teachers should pay attention to mosquito prevention measures when traveling to countries where dengue fever and chikungunya are prevalent. They should wear light-colored long-sleeved clothing and use mosquito repellents approved by government agencies that contain effective ingredients such as DEET, Picaridin, or IR-3535 to reduce the chances of mosquito bites.

After returning to the country, if you experience symptoms such as fever, body aches, headaches, pain behind the eyes, muscle pain, or joint pain, you should proactively inform the airport quarantine personnel, seek medical attention as soon as possible, and implement mosquito prevention measures. When seeking medical care, please actively inform the doctor of your travel history to assist in diagnosis.