Diagnosis and management of imported Chikungunya fever in Taiwan: a case report.
Chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne alphavirus, is endemic in Africa and Southeast Asia but is rarely reported in Taiwan. We report the case of a Taiwanese woman who developed Chikungunya fever, which was first diagnosed by a clinician rather than by fever screening at an airport. The woman presented with fever, maculopapular rash, and arthralgia, the triad for the disease, on the day she returned home after a trip to Malaysia. These symptoms are very similar to those of dengue fever, which is endemic in Southern Taiwan. Chikungunya infection was confirmed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and seroconversion on paired serum specimens. For approximately 40 years until 2006, no cases of Chikungunya fever had been found in Taiwan. Clinicians in Taiwan should consider Chikungunya fever as a possible diagnosis for a febrile patient with arthralgia, rash, and a history of travel to an endemic area, such as Africa or Southeast Asia.
Chang
Ko
K
Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang Hospital, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Hsieh
Hsiao-Chen
HC
Tsai
Jih-Jin
JJ
Lin
Wei-Ru
WR
Lu
Po-Liang
PL
Chen
Yen-Hsu
YH
D000328:Adult; D018354:Alphavirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D002646:Chikungunya virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D013624:Taiwan; D014195:Travel
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