At the beginning of April, there will be a long weekend for Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day) and Children’s Day. Many people will go out for pleasure trips or tomb sweeping, and when they do, they should guard against mosquitos and other bugs. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the high season for chiggers, which can transmit scrub typhus, is approaching.
Scrub typhus cases occur all year round in Taiwan, but every year the number of reported cases starts to rise from April to May, peaking in June to July, with more cases in Hualien, Taitung and the outlying islands. CDC surveillance data shows that there have been 27 cases this year up to March 15, including 12 cases in Hualien and Taitung counties. The cumulative number of cases this year is lower than the 2019 and 2020 figures of 43 and 37 cases respectively for the same period.
Scrub typhus is transmitted by the bite of rickettsia-carrying chiggers, which lurk in areas of scrubby vegetation, waiting for the opportunity to attach themselves to passing humans or other animals. Scrub typhus has an incubation period about nine to 12 days. Patients will have symptoms such as a persistent fever, headache and swollen lymph nodes. After about a week of fever, red papules will appear on the skin. Eschars usually form at the site of chigger bites and are an important characteristic of this illness.
Photo: Bharat Malhotra 照片：Bharat Malhotra
The CDC urges people to take personal precautions if they are likely to come into contact with a scrubby environment when engaging in outdoor activities such as sweeping tombs, worshipping ancestors or hiking. Precautions include wearing protective clothing such as light-colored long-sleeved clothes, long pants, long socks, boots and gloves, and tucking one’s pants into one’s socks.
You should also apply government-approved mosquito repellants containing DEET or Picaridin on your clothing and exposed areas of skin, as directed by the instructions on the label.
In addition, you should shower and change all your clothes as soon as possible after leaving the scrubland to avoid being bitten by any chiggers that may be attached to them. If you have any suspected symptoms, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible and inform your doctor about what you have been doing and whether you have been in any scrubland, so as to obtain a timely diagnosis, notification and treatment.
Photo: Bharat Malhotra 照片：Bharat Malhotra
(Translated by Julian Clegg, Taipei Times)
四月初就是清明連續假期、兒童節，許多民眾外出遊玩或掃墓應注意防蚊蟲；疾病管制署提醒，會傳染「恙蟲病」的恙蟲好發季節快到了。
台灣全年都有恙蟲病病例，歷年通報數自四至五月開始呈現上升，六至七月達高峰，於花東及離島地區感染病例數較多。疾管署監測資料顯示，今年截至三月十五日累積二十七例，其中花東地區感染個案十二例；累計病例數低於二○一九及二○二○年同期分別為四十三及三十七例。
恙蟲病是由帶有立克次體的恙?叮咬而傳染，恙?會停留於草叢中，伺機攀附到經過的人類或其他動物身上。恙蟲病的潛伏期約九至十二天，患者會出現持續性高燒、頭痛、淋巴結腫大等症狀，約發燒一週後，皮膚出現紅色斑狀丘疹，恙蟲叮咬處通常會出現焦痂，是此疾病的重要特徵。
疾管署呼籲，民眾從事掃墓祭祖或踏青等戶外活動時，如有接觸到草叢環境，務必做好個人防護措施，包括穿著淺色長袖衣、長褲、長筒襪、長靴及手套等保護性衣物，並將褲管紮入襪內。
在衣物及皮膚裸露部位，依照標籤指示說明使用政府機關核可含敵避（DEET）或派卡瑞丁（Picaridin）成分的防蚊藥劑。
此外，離開草叢後請儘快沐浴及換洗全部衣物，避免恙?附著叮咬，如有疑似症狀，應儘速就醫並告知醫師相關活動史，或有無出入草叢等暴露史，以及時診斷、通報及治療。
（自由時報）
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