Heat and overseas trips possibly causing infectious disease increase
Workers from the Incheon International Airport Corp. sterilize the arrival area of the airport as part of efforts to prevent infectious diseases from coming into the country, Monday. / Yonhap
Cholera, Zika virus become new health threat in Korea
By Lee Kyung-min
An unusually high number of patients have been diagnosed with infectious diseases this year due to the unprecedented heat coupled with an increase in the number of people traveling overseas.
Health authorities have been on alert, as some diseases have appeared here for the first time in decades while some coming from other countries are totally new here.
As the hotter-than-usual weather is continuing in fall, such diseases may have an influence on the country longer than usual.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), a total of four people were confirmed to have contracted cholera, an acute waterborne disease, the first infection on Korean soil since 2001.
But health authorities have not yet been able to figure out how and from where the bacterium came, only guessing that the unusually hot temperature this summer was a probable factor in the outbreak.
A new disease, Zika, has also affected Koreans, all of whom were infected with the virus during their overseas travels.
Currently, the KCDC is conducting tests on a suspected Zika patient, who showed Zika-like symptoms after returning home from a trip to Cambodia between Aug. 31 and Sept. 4, during which he was bitten by mosquitoes many times.
The boy, 15, whose identity is being withheld and who lives in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, said he has been suffering from fever and severe pain in the head and eyes.
So far, a total of 11 people were confirmed to have been infected with the Zika virus after traveling to Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Brazil, Puerco Rico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
Besides cholera and Zika, a total of 4,643 people suffered from infectious diseases this year as of August, more than double the figure a year earlier, including typhoid fever, enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), viral hepatitis A, dengue fever, and vibrio vulnificus sepsis, according to the KCDC.
Although the summer heat has gone, the KCDC said particular precaution is needed to prevent possible infection of scrub typhus, an acute infectious disease transmitted to humans by mites, ahead of Chuseok holiday when many people visit their ancestors’ graves.
“More than 90 percent of the insect-borne diseases occur between September and November,” a KCDC official said.
“As the number of mites in the wild has increased due to the high temperatures this summer, we expect the number of scrub typhus patients will rise,” she added.
Last month alone, 119 patients were infected with the disease, more than double the figure during the same period a year earlier.
As no vaccines are available, scrub typhus is often fatal without treatment. Last year, a total of 11 people died because of the disease.
The KCDC advised people to visit hospitals for treatment if they suffer from symptoms including fever, headache, muscle pain, cough, and rashes or scabs on the skin.