Chikungunya infection: First autochthonous cases in Taiwan

The first autochthonous case and the first outbreak of chikungunya in Taiwan occurred during July-October 2019, with a total of 21 cases confirmed. Genetic analysis revealed the strains belonged to East/Central/South African genotype and had 99.95%-100% identity with the strains from the imported cases from Myanmar in 2019. This event confirmed that the imported chikungunya cases has the potential to cause autochthonous transmission in Taiwan; intensified surveillance and vector control measures are essential to contain the outbreak. Copyright (c) 2020, Formosan Medical Association. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The first autochthonous case and outbreak of chikungunya in Taiwan occurred during July-October 2019, with 21 confirmed cases. Genetic analysis revealed strains belonging to the East/Central/South African genotype and having high similarity with strains from imported cases from Myanmar in 2019. This event emphasized the importance of intensified surveillance and vector control measures in containing the outbreak.