With the recent heat and regular afternoon thunderstorms, containers of stagnant water which contribute to the breeding of vector mosquitoes are common. In addition, with the first confirmed imported case of dengue fever in Taoyuan City on June 20, the Department of Public Health, Taoyuan (DOPH) held a press conference on dengue fever health education advocacy themed “Eradicate Mosquito Larvae to Eliminate Dengue Fever” today (the 2nd) in order to enhance the general public’s alertness toward dengue fever prevention. At the conference, the importance of “Inspecting, Pouring, Cleaning, and Scrubbing” was emphasized. The city mayor led the city government team and invited communities, schools, and enterprise representatives to jointly control dengue fever. Through the prevention and control work and “Inspecting, Pouring, Cleaning, and Scrubbing”, we can eradicate mosquito larvae and eliminate dengue fever.
Mayor Cheng said that with the coming of the epidemic period, as the gateway of the country, Taoyuan is subject to greater threats from imported cases of dengue compared to other counties and cities. In conjunction with the central government’s home quarantine policy, this city has set up many quarantine hotels and a centralized quarantine facility, while the number of home quarantine days for people entering the country has also gradually been shortened. At the end of quarantine, people entering the country may return to their communities. This will in turn lengthen infected asymptomatic individuals’ stays in the city during the latency period, and increase related risks.
Director-general Wang Wen-Yan of Department of Public Health, Taoyuan explained that dengue fever is an environmental infectious disease, and the focus of dengue prevention and control is the control of vector mosquito breeding. The most effective way is to maintain environmental hygiene and eliminate breeding sites. By reinforcing public awareness, the public can be mobilized to take part in dengue fever prevention and control work. Additionally, the personnel from 13 district public health centers and environmental volunteers also periodically strengthen vector breeding site removal work in communities, villages, quarantine hotels, campuses, vegetable gardens, centralized quarantine venues, densely populated areas, and other hot spots, specifically targeting areas where vector mosquito breeding sites are found, and following up to jointly safeguard the health of city residents.
Director-general Lu Li-Te of Department of Environmental Protection, Taoyuan (DEP) said that in order to use data to determine the risk of dengue fever occurrences and put a stop to the epidemic, the DEP has since 2020 engaged in cooperation with the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI). At first, larva-trapping buckets were set up in areas with occurrences of dengue fever, such as Taoyuan, Guishan, Luzhu, etc. in order to monitor the vector mosquito index. In 2021 and 2022, monitoring targeting nearly 300 areas in the city continued. When a village at high risk was found, breeding site elimination or emergency chemical spray and control measures were immediately launched, in order to lower the risk of a dengue epidemic occurring. At the same time, environmental protection volunteers also actively assisted and cooperated. According to statistics, from January to May this year, about 86,000 environmental protection volunteers were mobilized, and about 13,000 stagnant water containers were cleared, thoroughly eradicating the vector breeding sites.
The Department of Public Health, Taoyuan also reminds the general public to take proper anti-mosquito measures when engaging in outdoor activities, such as wearing light-colored long-sleeved shirts and pants, or applying approved mosquito repellents to areas of exposed skin to avoid mosquito bites. Within 14 days after returning to Taiwan from overseas, in case of fever, headache, pain behind the eyes, joint and muscle pain, rashes, and other suspected symptoms, please seek medical attention as soon as possible and take the initiative to inform medical personnel of your TOCC. We need to work together to keep dengue fever from entering the country.