The officials at the county government’s Public Health Bureau said the patient, whose name was not disclosed, stayed in New Guinea on business from Nov. 25 to Dec. 15 and developed symptoms of malaria after returning to Taiwan.

Although the patient took some non-prescription medicines, his condition did not improve. He then sought help from a hospital, where a test confirmed that he had contracted vivax malaria, the most common of four human malaria species.

Vivax malaria is caused by Plasmodiumvivax that induces paroxysms of chills and fever at 48-hour intervals. Other symptoms include headache, weakness, vomiting and diarrhea.

The disease is rarely fatal, but relapses often occur months to years after treatment because the parasites can remain dormant in the patient’s liver cells, evading the body’s defence system and the most commonly used drugs.

Health officials pointed out that malaria is most prevalent in Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Africa, North Africa, Central and South America, and Oceania.

They suggested that people who plan to travel to those areas take precautionary measures to avoid mosquito bites or take anti-malarial drugs.

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