Korea’s first confirmed patient of H1N1 influenza A, a 51-year-old nun, got treatment for at the isolation ward of the Armed Forces Medical Command Hospital. She was released from hospital Monday but another woman was confirmed to have influenza A Tuesday. / Yonhap |
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
A 44-year-old nun was confirmed to have been contracted H1N1 influenza A here, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Management (KCDC) said Tuesday. She is the second case to be confirmed.
Since she had not been to Mexico or the United States recently but had close contact to the first confirmed case, a 51-year-old nun who was released from hospital Monday, it seems highly likely that she is the first human-to-human transmission recorded in Korea.
According to the KCDC, the two shared accommodation and the younger nun picked up the older one from the airport when she returned from a trip to Mexico on Apr. 25.
The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said Tuesday that the second patient, who is now hospitalized at a military hospital, is doing well and could leave the medical facility around Wednesday.
The first patient left the hospital Monday, after six days hospitalization and more than eight days after contracting the illness ― following World Health Organization guidelines.
Prof. Park Seung-cheol of Samsung Medical Center previously said that there could be human-to-human transmission of the influenza here, as it is known to be transmitted through contact. However, he also said the disease seems different from that of Mexico or the U.S. and that it may not be as serious as those cases.
Separately, a woman in her 20s, a resident in Daegu City, tested positive for the influenza strain. She returned to Korea last Thursday from a trip to Canada, and went for a checkup after she began exhibiting flu symptoms.
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
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