TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A medical worker infected with measles after coming into contact with the first local case of the year had visited the country’s main airport, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Wednesday (Feb. 28).
The worker, a 34-year-old man from Zhonghe District in New Taipei City, had been listed as a contact of the first local measles infection, the Liberty Times reported. He started experiencing spells of dizziness on Feb. 24, and coughing and a red rash on Feb. 26.
The hospital confirmed him as a measles case on Tuesday (Feb. 27), asking him to stay in home quarantine. Four friends and relatives, and 337 other people were listed as his contacts, with their health to remain under observation until March 15.
The new measles case had visited Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 2, where he had a meal at the underground food court on the afternoon of Feb. 22, per CNA. Late on Feb. 25, he ate at a rice noodle soup restaurant in Zhonghe, the CDC said.
The previous measles case was also a man in his 30s living in north Taiwan who had not traveled overseas recently. Both men came into contact at the hospital where the new case worked on Feb. 13. A total of 600 people have been asked to monitor their health following the emergence of this year's first measles cluster. reports said.
The CDC has advised Taiwan residents to seek MMR inoculations at local health centers and to avoid taking young children not yet inoculated on foreign trips, as several parts of the world have seen an increase in outbreaks of measles.
