An Analysis of the Results from Rapid Dengue Blood Screening Pilot Trial for Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Arrivals

Taiwan CDC statistics show that imported dengue fever (DF) cases have on average increased by 46.07% annually in the recent 3 years. To shorten the time to detect probable DF cases in arriving passengers, Taiwan CDC implemented the Rapid Dengue Blood Screening (RDBS) Pilot Trial for Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in 2008, in an attempt to accelerate the DF quarantine process. The aim of this study is to investigate passenger acceptance of and satisfaction with RDBS as a reference for decision-making. Both self-administered surveys and phone interviews were conducted with inbound passengers receiving RDBS. Passengers were asked to complete a questionnaire containing five-level Likert items to measure their level of RDBS acceptance, and 3 open-ended questions are included for them to comment on RDBS. Data were analyzed with SPSS 10. The total number of valid samples is 300. Results indicate that among the respondents, only 17.67% have heard of RDBS; 82.67% approve RDBS at international airports; 62.38% recommend that the waiting time for the test should be limited to 10-20 minutes; 61.67% express their will to cooperate with the quarantine policy; 62.45% are satisfied with the professional practice and overall service of health personnel; and 42.22% are satisfied with the privacy of examination environment although the examination environment and equipment need immediate improvement. Summarizing the above results, passengers are satisfied with international airport RDBS and its quality. However, RDBS should be better publicized, and supportive policies should be established to encourage RDBS-positive cases to comply with medical or quarantine arrangements. Examination environment privacy should be improved to enhance the service quality of quarantine agencies and the image of international airports.