Days of torrential rain have led to flooding in some areas in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have thus urged residents of flooded areas to pay close attention to food hygiene and environmental sanitation, practice personal protection measures when cleaning their houses after the flood subdues and carry out three disease prevention procedures: removal, cleaning, and sterilization. 

1. Remove mosquito breeding sources to prevent dengue fever 
It is now the peak season for dengue fever. Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung, which have recently been hit by heavy rains, are high-risk areas for dengue fever outbreaks. You should take the initiative to inspect your living environment after heavy rains and eliminate indoor and outdoor breeding sources, such as tires, iron/aluminum cans, canvases, PET bottles, and pot trays in order to reduce the density of dengue-borne mosquitoes and the transmission of dengue viruses in the community. 

2. Refrain from walking barefooted or wearing slippers when cleaning your house to avoid infection with Leptospira interrogans, melioidosis and tetanus 
As sewage, sludge, or disaster-related waste is likely to remain after a disaster, please be sure to wear rain boots or high waterproof boots, waterproof gloves and a mask when cleaning your house, so as to prevent being pierced or cut by rusty items (like nails and pieces of iron) and consequently being infected by diseases such as leptospirosis, melioidosis and tetanus. Should you have symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle pain, abdominal pain, diarrhea, jaundice or fatigue, please consult a doctor immediately and openly disclose to him or her any previous, relevant exposure, as well as the cause and degree of contamination of your wounds to facilitate diagnosis and treatment. 

3. Pay heed to food hygiene and environmental sanitation to prevent intestinal infectious diseases 
Torrential rain may contaminate drinking water. If flood waters have flowed into a reservoir, the reservoir should be thoroughly cleaned and sterilized before being used again; the contaminated water should be thoroughly boiled before drinking. Foods that were soaked or defrosted for a prolonged period should not be consumed. You should clean your home with a chlorine bleach product sold on the market and diluted 100 times. Kitchen utensils and tableware should be sterilized with boiled water or 40 ml of bleach diluted with 10 liters of clean water. 

The CDC will continue to cooperate with the public health bureaus in these cities and counties to monitor infectious diseases after the flooding and carry out cleaning and prevention tasks targeting the listed areas that are prone to mosquito breeding after the rains. The CDC reminds clinicians that they should immediately report any suspected cases to reduce the risks of transmitting infectious diseases. For any relevant questions, please dial the domestic toll-free disease prevention hotline 1922 (or 0800-001922).