On August 8, Taiwan (China) confirmed the first case of chickenpox outbreak in China, marking the first time the virus has crossed the Taiwan Strait in 2025.
The patient is a Taiwanese woman (China) who just returned from foshan city, Guangdong province, on July 30. Tests showed that this person tested positive for the chikungunya virus - a disease transmitted by mosquitoes, causing high fever, rash, muscle and joint pain that lasted for many weeks.
In just a few weeks, chickenpox has broken out in southern China, especially in foshan - a major production center in the Zhoujiang River Basin.
The number of cases in Guangdong has exceeded 8,000 cases, becoming the largest outbreak recorded in the province, according to expert Roger Hewson, head of the virus monitoring team of Wellcome Sanger Institute (UK).
Chinese authorities said the epidemic spread rapidly after more than a month of consecutive storms and heavy rains, creating conditions for mosquitoes to breed.
In Phat Son, people could be fined up to 10,000 yuan ($1,400) if they leave water stagnant outdoors - where mosquitoes can easily thrive. However, the latest data shows that the epidemic has peaked, with more than 2,800 new cases in the week from July 27 to August 2 but no deaths.
The Taiwan CDC Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China) has raised the travel warning to Guangdong to level 2/3, recommending people to apply mosquito bit prevention measures when coming to this area.
Before the new cases from the continent, Taiwan (China) recorded more than 10 cases of chikungunya fever this year, mainly imported from Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
In Hong Kong (China), the number of cases has also increased. Last week, this special zone recorded 5 import cases, including a 12-year-old boy and many returning from Phat Son. All were confirmed infected during their stay in the epidemic area.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of July 2025, more than 240,000 cases of chikungunya have been reported in 16 countries and territories, of which about 90 have died.
Chikungunya is transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which have symptoms similar to dengue fever and Zika. The disease is often not fatal but can leave monthly, even annual, joint pain sequelae.
Experts warn that with extreme weather and high travel density in the area, the risk of chickenongunya continuing to spread to other areas is very high, requiring mosquito control and disease monitoring measures to be closer.
