Taiwan CDC has identified the third imported case of measles in 2007. A 25-year-old male university student who was a resident of Tainan County went to Japan for a trip from May 19 to 25. He experienced disease onset on June 2 and was confirmed to have contracted measles on June 21. None of his contacts has presented symptoms so far.
The prior two imported cases of measles this year were confirmed on June 8 and June 12 respectively. The first case was a 30-year-old non-immune female who joined a tourist group to Japan from May 16 to 20. She then developed cough, rhinorrhea, fever and rash, and has visited various clinics eight times since May 24. The second case, a 26-year-old female, joined a travel group with her husband to Tokyo, Japan between May 17 and 21, and spent extra days there until May 24. She fell ill with fever on June 2, and developed skin rash on June 4. Investigation of 32 possible contacts of hers has been completed. Among them, another visitor who participated in the same travel group was recognized as showing the symptom of rash on June 7. That person has been to the hospital and is under further investigation including specimen collection.
The MMR vaccination coverage rate in Taiwan is above 95%. As of June 15, 2007, there has been a total of two confirmed cases of measles in Taiwan this year. Both were imported from Japan.
The annual case counts of measles in Taiwan have been available since 1989, and the numbers of reported / confirmed cases each year were: 2/0 in 1989; 29/0 in 1990; 44/2 in 1991; 264/0 in 1992; 71/2 in 1993; 98/33 in 1994; 42/0 in 1995; 47/0 in 1996; 67/5 in 1997; 50/9 in 1998; 23/1 in 1999; 48/6 in 2000; 50/10 in 2001; 79/24 in 2002; 59/6 in 2003; 36/0 in 2004; 39/7 in 2005; 24/4 in 2006; and 43/3 in 2007.