In a development that has drawn international attention, Taiwan has confirmed its first imported case of chikungunya fever from China, as the mosquito-borne virus surges through southern China in what experts describe as the country’s largest outbreak on record. The case, announced by Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on August 8, 2025, involves a 40-year-old woman who had traveled to Foshan, the epicenter of the outbreak in Guangdong province, and returned to Taiwan on July 30. She fell ill just two days later, presenting with joint pain and a rash, and was promptly hospitalized.
According to the CDC, the woman was discharged after four days but will remain under observation until August 26. Health officials swiftly responded by inspecting her residence for mosquito breeding sites, eradicating potential vectors, and conducting pest control activities. This case marks the seventeenth chikungunya infection reported in Taiwan in 2025—the highest tally in six years—with previous cases originating from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.
The CDC has since elevated its travel advisory for China’s Guangdong province to level 2 out of 3, urging travelers to take “enhanced precautions.” The warning comes as Foshan and surrounding areas in Guangdong have reported more than 8,000 chikungunya cases in recent weeks, with 2,892 local infections documented between July 27 and August 2 alone. The outbreak has been described as “unprecedented for China” by Roger Hewson, virus surveillance lead at the United Kingdom’s Wellcome Sanger Institute.
“The outbreak in Foshan and surrounding areas of Guangdong province has unfolded rapidly and at a scale unprecedented for China,” Hewson stated, as reported by the Associated Press. He attributed the surge to limited immunity in the local population and “environmental suitability” for the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which thrive in stagnant water—conditions exacerbated by a month of typhoons and unusually heavy monsoon rains.
Chinese health authorities have responded with a sweeping array of containment strategies. These include household inspections, enforced use of bed nets, drone-based insecticide fogging, and even quarantines reminiscent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Soldiers and community workers have been seen fogging streets and parks, while officials go door-to-door searching for mosquito breeding grounds. People who test positive for chikungunya are reportedly being hospitalized for isolation, a tactic Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, likened to pandemic-era restrictions. “It’s reminiscent of the COVID-19 tactics,” Huang told NPR, noting that some measures may be excessive given that chikungunya is rarely fatal and cannot be spread through the air.
Still, the urgency is understandable. Mosquitoes can easily pick up the virus from infected people and transmit it to others, especially in a population with little to no prior exposure. Residents of Foshan now face fines of up to 10,000 RMB (about $1,400) for keeping water in outdoor containers—prime breeding grounds for the virus-carrying mosquitoes. The public health campaign has also included the use of drones to spray insecticide, a striking visual of China’s determination to curb the outbreak.
Chikungunya, which derives its name from a Kimakonde word meaning “that which bends up” (a nod to the contorted posture of those suffering from severe joint pain), is not new to the world. The disease was first identified in Tanzania in 1952 and has since spread to over 110 countries. Symptoms typically appear three to seven days after a mosquito bite and can include high fever, rash, headache, nausea, fatigue, and, most notably, debilitating joint pain that may last for weeks, months, or even years. As the CDC explains, “Chikungunya fever is rarely fatal. Symptoms are similar to dengue fever, but the difference is that some patients will have severe joint pain for several weeks, months, or even years.”
There is currently no specific antiviral treatment for chikungunya; care is supportive, focused on alleviating symptoms with rest, hydration, and pain medication. Two licensed vaccines exist, but they are not widely available or used, and are not currently accessible in China. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued its own notice for travelers to Guangdong, recommending precautions such as mosquito repellent and, where available, vaccination.
Globally, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has reported approximately 240,000 chikungunya cases since the start of 2025 across 16 countries, with 90 deaths. South America has borne the brunt of the pandemic this year, led by Brazil with 185,553 cases, followed by Bolivia, Argentina, and Peru. The World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded the alarm, with epidemiologist Dr. Diana Rojas Alvarez warning, “Chikungunya is not a disease that is widely known, but it has been detected and transmitted in 119 countries globally, putting 5.6 billion people at risk.” She highlighted the virus’s explosive potential, recalling that one-third of Reunion Island’s population has already been infected in 2025. “Because these patterns of transmission were seen in the outbreak from 2004 onwards, WHO is calling for urgent action to prevent history from repeating itself,” Reuters quoted her as saying.
Climate change and increased global travel are also contributing to chikungunya’s expanding reach. Laurie Silva, a virologist at the University of Pittsburgh, explained to NPR that outbreaks are most common in tropical and subtropical regions where mosquitoes thrive year-round. “They can have prolonged joint pain that can last for weeks or months, and in some cases years,” Silva said. “That’s one of the main concerns for this virus.”
Despite the historic number of cases, Chinese state media have reported that the outbreak appears to have peaked, with a downward trend in new infections. Kang Min, director of the infectious disease control institute at the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told Xinhua, “The recent surge has been initially contained, with a downward trend in newly reported cases across the province.”
But the threat is far from over. With hot, humid weather persisting in the region and international travel resuming, experts caution that new outbreaks could still emerge. “We cannot rule out the possibility that the disease will spread beyond Guangdong,” Huang warned.
For now, the world is closely watching China’s response to this unprecedented outbreak—one that has tested public health systems and reminded all of the unpredictable power of infectious disease in an interconnected era.
