Taiwan Embassy: 202-895-1800 Taipei GMT +8 hrs

Entry Requirements:
A visa is not required for stays up to 2 weeks.
HIV Test: Required for those staying more than 3 months or applying for work or residency.
Vaccinations: A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required from all travelers older than 1 year arriving from infected or endemic areas.
Telephone Country Code: 886

Embassies/Consulates: Consulates: No. 2 Chung Cheng 3rd Road, 5th Floor, U.S. Embassy: No.7 Lane 134, Hsin Yi Road Section 3, Taipei; Tel: 2-2709-2000; Fax: 2-2709-0908. Consulates: No. 2 Chung Cheng 3rd Road, 5th Floor, Kaohsiung. Tel: 7-238-7744; Fax: 886-7-238-5237; E-mail: aitamcit@mail.ait.org.tw.
Canadian Embassy: 365 Fu Hsing North Road, Taipei. Tel: 2-2544-3000; Fax: 2-2544-3592; E-mail: tapei@dfait-maeci.gc.ca; Web: www.canada.org.tw.

Hospitals / Doctors:
Dr. TSAI Shih Li, Taiwan National University; No. 7, Chung Shan South Rd, Taipei; Tel: 886-(0)2-23562996 or 886-(0)2-23123456 x2061.
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei; general medical/surgical facility with ICU, 24-hour emergency services; Tel: 2-2713-5211.
Country Hospital, Taipei, (140 beds); general medical/surgical facility with ICU and 24-hour emergency services; Tel: 2-2771-3161.

Current Advisories & Health Risks:

Accidents & Medical Insurance:
Accidents and injuries are the leading cause of death among travelers under the age of 55 and are most often caused by motor vehicle and motorcycle crashes; drownings, aircraft crashes, homicides, and burns are lesser causes.
Heart attacks cause most fatalities in older travelers.
Infections cause only 1% of fatalities in overseas travelers, but, overall, infections are the most common cause of travel-related illness.
MEDICAL INSURANCE: Travelers are advised to obtain, prior to departure, supplemental travel health insurance with specific overseas coverage. The policy should provide for direct payment to the overseas hospital and/or physician at the time of service and include a medical evacuation benefit. The policy should also provide 24-hour hotline access to a multilingual assistance center that can help arrange and monitor delivery of medical care and determine if medevac or air ambulance services are required.

Animal Hazards: Animal hazards include snakes (coral, krait, viper), centipedes, scorpions, and black widow spiders.

Dengue Fever: Countrywide risk, year-round. The incidence of dengue is higher in the warmer, wetter months, April through October, especially in the southwestern coastal counties and islands. The mosquitoes which transmit dengue are most active during the day in populous urban areas, as well as resort and rural areas. Prevention of dengue consists of taking protective measures against daytime mosquito bites.

Helminthic Infections (flukes and worms):
Liver fluke diseases (clonorchiasis and fascioliasis): Clonorchiasis is transmitted by eating raw, undercooked, pickled, or smoked freshwater fish. It is endemic countrywide, with recognized foci in Miao-li in northern, Sun-moon in central, and Mei-nung in southern Taiwan. Travelers should eat only well cooked fish.
Fascioliasis is acquired by ingesting parasitic larvae attached to aquatic plants, such as watercress.
Intestinal fluke disease (fasciolopsiasis): Giant intestinal fluke disease is common in the Far East and is acquired by eating the parasitic larvae attached to aquatic plants, such as water chesnuts which have been contaminated by sewage from animals (pigs) and humans.
Lung fluke disease (paragonimiasis): Humans develp lung fluke disease after consuming contaminated raw, salted, or wine-soaked crustacea (freshwater crabs, crayfish, shrimp).
Intestinal worm disease (capillariasis and angiostrongyliasis): Capillariasis is a serious infection acquired by the ingestion of raw freashwater fish that harbor infective worm larvae.
Angiostrongliasis (cerebral variety; enzootic in mountainous, remote areas of southern and eastern Taiwan) is a parasitic infection found mainly in Asia and the Asia Pacific among people who eat snails, prawns, crabs, planarians, vegetables, contaminated by the mucus of infected slugs, land snails, or aquatic snails.
Other intestinal helminthic infections include ascariasis (roundworms), ancylostomiasis (hookworms), enterobiasis (pinworms), trichuriasis (whipworms) and beef and pork tapeworm disease.
PREVENTION of helminthic infections: Travelers should avoid raw or undercooked food items that may be contaminated.

Hepatitis: All nonimmune travelers should receive hepatitis A vaccine prior to visiting this country. Hepatitis E is endemic. The hepatitis B carrier rate in the general population is estimated to be over 10%. Hepatitis B vaccine is recommended for stays over 3 months and for short-term travelers wanting increased protection. Travelers should be aware that the risk of hepatitis B is increased by unsafe sex and the use of unsterile needles and syringes. Hepatitis C is endemic.

Influenza: Influenza is transmitted from November through March. Flu vaccine is recommended for travelers over age 50; travelers of any age with a chronic illness or weakened immune system; any traveler under age 50 wishing to decrease the risk of influenza; pregnant women after the first trimester.

Japanese Encephalitis (JE): Endemic, with occasional focal outbreaks. JE occurs year-round, countrywide, in both urban and rural areas. Transmission of disease is elevated during the warmer, wetter months, usually April through October, with a higher incidence likely occuring in the southwestern coastal counties and islands. Vaccination is recommended for travelers who will be staying in rural-agricultural areas longer than 3–4 weeks, especially during the peak transmission season. In addition, all travelers should take measures to prevent mosquito bites.

Malaria: There is currently no risk of malaria on Taiwan. This disease was officially eradicated in 1965.

Marine Hazards: Several species of poisonous fishes (stone, puffer, scorpion, zebra), as well as jellyfish, anemones, nettles, urchins, and sea cucumbers are found in the coastal waters around Taiwan and are potential hazards to swimmers.

Other Diseases/Hazards: Filariasis (Bancroftian variety; mosquito-borne; endemic on the Pescadores, Kinmen, and Matsu Islands), hand, foot and mouth disease (usually caused by coxsackie virus; outbreaks are common; risk primarily to children, but has not been reported in travelers), leptospirosis, Lyme disease (a case of human Lyme disease has been reported, but disease prevalence is unknown), scrub typhus (countrywide; risk may be elevated on Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and Orchid Islands; transmitted primarily in mountainous, wooded, grassy areas, or cleared forest and scrub brush-type areas), flea-borne typhus (sporadic cases reported), tuberculosis (highly endemic), typhoid fever, and acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis.

Travelers' Diarrhea: Medium to high risk outside of first-class hotels. Acute diarrhea should be treated with a quinolone antibiotic, combined with loperamide (Imodium). Diarrhea not responding to antibiotic treatment may be due to a parasitic disease such as giardiasis, amebiasis, or cryptosporidiosis.

Tuberculosis: Tuberculos is a significant health problem in this country. Travelers planning an extended stay should have a predeparture TB skin test (PPD test) and be re-rested after leaving this country.