Department of Health, Taipei City Government

Local infections of mpox have already been reported within Taiwan. The majority of the populace is relatively unfamiliar with this contagious illness. According to the Taipei City Hospital, clinical observation has shown that some patients ignore abnormalities such as red patches and pustules, and the hospital reminds individuals to seek medical attention as soon as they discover abnormal rashes and blisters. If you are notified as part of a pandemic investigation that you may have been in contact with confirmed cases, please cooperate with the necessary pandemic prevention measures in order to prevent the disease from spreading.

Mpox continues to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control recently reported the domestic emergence of local mpox infections. Additionally, Taipei City Hospital collaborates to complete pandemic prevention tasks like the isolation and treatment of some cases, the pandemic investigation of confirmed cases, and the administration of vaccines to high-risk contacts.

According to Dr. Chien-Chun Wang, a physician at Taipei City Hospital Kunming Prevention and Control Center, as a public hospital, the hospital not only handles the isolation and treatment of mpox patients, it also cooperates with the Department of Health of the Taipei City Government to conduct various community pandemic prevention actions, including in-hospital education and training for medical professionals, contact tracing to identify high-risk contacts, and services such as providing high-risk contacts with post-exposure vaccination. Additionally, as the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control is currently planning to administer pre-exposure mpox vaccinations to high-risk groups, Taipei City Hospital will cooperate with the policy by planning procedures for administering vaccines to provide citizens with comprehensive pandemic prevention measures.

During his fieldwork, Dr. Wang discovered that some people are unaware of the symptoms of mpox or its routes of transmission, which can delay the seeking of medical attention. Even when pandemic prevention workers inform them of the risk of infection exposure, people were unconcerned. Both may contribute to the undetected spread of the disease within communities. The general public is reminded that if they find abnormal rashes or blisters on their skin, and have had intimate contact with others recently (such as sexual intercourse, kissing, or hugging without a covering) or have touched lesions on other people's skin, they can take the initiative to ask if they are at risk of being infected with mpox when seeking medical attention. This will allow physicians to determine if they should take samples to send for testing. Let's work together to stop the spread of the pandemic through early diagnosis and intervention.