TAIPEI: Wu Den-yih, chief of the Executive Yuan, instructed relevant departments yesterday to establish a central command to stem the spread of dengue fever.

Wu gave a directive for Department of Health (DOH) chief Yaung Chih-liang to head the task force, which will be called the Central Epidemics Command Center against Dengue Fever.

He gave the directives in the wake of Taiwan's first fatal case of dengue hemorrhagic fever this year, which occurred in November. The fatality stirred concerns that the dengue situation has escalated in Taiwan, particularly in the southern counties of Kaohsiung and Pingtung.

"It's quite rare for dengue fever to intensify, considering the fact that it is almost winter and low temperatures are not conducive to the spread of the disease," Wu said during a regular Executive Yuan meeting.

He instructed the DOH to find out why the situation has escalated and to implement a monitoring system that would enable local governments to deal with the problem in a timely manner.

The recent fatality was a 52-year-old woman from Pingtung City, who was a polio patient with a history of heart disease and blood clots. She developed a fever, headache, nausea and vomiting around late November and died on November 27 of internal bleeding caused by dengue hemorrhagic fever.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne infection that causes a severe flu-like illness, and sometimes a potentially lethal complication called dengue hemorrhagic fever.

Taiwan has reported seven cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever and more than 600 cases of regular dengue fever so far this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 12/04/2009 page2)