The epidemic of Chikungunya fever has kept escalating around the globe, with over 440,000 cases accumulated in 2025. “Chikungunya fever will be a major vector-borne threat in southern Taiwan in the future,” warned Associate Dean Kun-Hsien Tsai of the College of Public Health, National Taiwan University. He advised that Taiwan should strengthen monitoring of vector mosquitoes, removal of community breeding grounds, and elevation of awareness for clinical diagnosis in face of the global spreading of Chikungunya epidemic and the climate change challenges, so as to lower the potential public health threat.
Kaohsiung City is the only metropolis in Taiwan with both international airport and sea ports. As business development prospers, people travel frequently to and from Chikungunya fever endemic areas such as Southeast Asia and South Asia. This year, Taiwan has accumulated 29 confirmed cases of Chikungunya fever to date, all of them being imported cases. Indonesia is the major source of infections, followed by the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Guangdong Province of China. These areas all have close business contacts with Kaohsiung, making Kaohsiung more susceptible to importation of cases than other cities.
Chikungunya fever and dengue fever spread through the same kinds of vector mosquitoes, explained the Department of Health (DOH); the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes distribute in areas to the south of the Tropic of Cancer, including Kaohsiung, while the Aedes albopictus distribute throughout Taiwan. Experts warn that Aedes aegypti mosquitoes mostly inhabit indoors, and thus have a much higher propagation efficiency than the Aedes albopictus. Chikungunya fever has never had an outbreak in Kaohsiung City; citizens therefore generally have no antibodies against it and lack protection. Foshan of Guangdong, China broke out Chikungunya fever epidemic in July this year, with more than 9000 confirmed cases accumulated by August 21. Experts analyze that this is probably due to the lack of herd immunity among the local people. With the zero antibodies among the people, densely populated settlements, and high vector mosquito density, Kaohsiung citizens may face fiercely increased risk of infection once the virus enters the community. Chikungunya fever generally has severe symptoms; some infected patients may experience weeks of ongoing fatigue, and some may suffer serious joint pain that affects mobility which may continue for weeks or even months or years. Newborns, seniors over 65 years of age, and chronic patients are more prone to severe complications. In case of a large-scale outbreak, the epidemic may devastate the port operation, industrial production, and business activities.
Mayor Chen Chi-mai reminded that prevention of the breeding of vector mosquitoes in the community is the key to Chikungunya control. As an international gateway, Kaohsiung bears the important duty of safeguarding Taiwan in terms of disease prevention. When encountering the unprecedented Chikungunya threat with people having zero antibodies, an epidemic outbreak can be prevented only through the cooperation of all parties including the government, enterprises, and the general public, as well as stringent control and prompt response, so that public health can be ensured and city sustainability upheld. Citizens are urged to work together to make sure “inspection, removal, cleaning, scrubbing” are properly carried out, thoroughly extinguishing indoor and outdoor water-holding containers, particularly places prone to the breeding of the Aedes aegypti such as flower pot saucers, water storage buckets, etc. Enterprises should step up health monitoring for foreign workers; anyone returning from Southeast Asia who has a fever or joint pain should consult a doctor and take the initiative to tell his/her travel history, and should also cooperate with the airport quarantine work and the DOH quarantine referral measures.