As the week-long Chinese New Year holiday is celebrated this week, travels between China and Taiwan will become more frequent. Hence, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) advises travelers visiting China to practice good personal hygiene such as washing hands with soap and water frequently and putting on a mask when coughing and take preventive measures such as avoiding direct contact with poultry and birds or their droppings/dead bodies, and consuming only thoroughly cooked poultry and eggs to ward off avian influenza infection.
This season, a cumulative total of 3 H7N9 cases, including 1 death, have been respectively confirmed in Yunnan Province, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Guangdong Province, China. Thus far, the number of H7N9 cases confirmed in China this season is significantly less than those reported in the past years, which might have been a result of the implementation of H7N9 influenza vaccination among domestic birds in China. Nevertheless, sporadic human cases are expected to continuously occur.
Since March 31, 2013, as of now, 6 waves of H7N9 outbreaks have been reported and a cumulative total of 1,567 H7N9 influenza infections, including 612 deaths, announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) on September 27, 2017 have been confirmed around the world. The mortality rate is approximately 40%. Currently, Taiwan CDC has issued a travel notice of Level 2: Alert for human infections with novel influenza A viruses to Anhui Province, Fujian Province, Guangdong Province, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guizhou Province, Hebei Province, Hunan Province, Jiangsu Province, Liaoning Province, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shaanxi Province, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Yunnan Province, and a travel notice of Level 1: Watch for avian influenza to the other provinces and cities in China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Indonesia.
To ward off avian influenza and novel influenza A infection, Taiwan CDC urges the public to adhere to the “5 Do’s and 6 Don’t’s” guidelines. The “5 Do’s” include: Consume only thoroughly cooked poultry and eggs; Wash hands with soap and water thoroughly; Wear a mask and seek immediate medical attention when symptoms develop, and inform the doctor of your job and exposure history; People who have long-term or repeated exposure to poultry, including poultry growers and workers, should receive influenza vaccine; Eat a balanced diet and exercise regularly. The “6 Don’t’s” include: Don’t consume raw or undercooked poultry, eggs and poultry products; Don’t smuggle or purchase poultry from unknown sources; Don’t touch or feed migratory birds or poultry; Don’t release poultry into the wild or randomly abandon poultry; Don’t keep domesticated and wild poultry together; Don’t visit crowded and poorly ventilated public places.
In addition, if influenza-like illness symptoms develop upon arriving in Taiwan, please voluntarily notify the airline crew and the quarantine officer at the quarantine station in the airport/port. If the aforementioned symptoms such as fever and cough develop after returning to Taiwan, please put on a surgical mask and seek immediate medical attention. Moreover, please inform the physician of the recent travel and exposure history to facilitate diagnosis and treatment. For more information, please visit the Taiwan CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline, 1922 (or 0800-001922).