By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
A 51-year-old woman was confirmed to have been contracted with H1N1 Influenza A, formerly known as Swine Flu or Swine Influenza, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Management said Saturday.
South Korea has become the 14th country to officially report a case to the World Health Organization following the United States; Mexico; Austria; Canada; Hong Kong; Denmark; Germany; Israel; Netherlands; New Zealand; Spain; Switzerland; and the United Kingdom. The local health authorities sent her blood sample to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and for conformation.
The patient, identified as a nun who visited Morales of Mexico through April 18 to 25, reported herself to the KCDC Tuesday of high fever and is now hospitalized at a military hospital. Friday, the government said she is well and that she may return to her home in couple of days following the WHO standard.
The woman is also suspected of having transmitted her disease to a second person. Another 44-year-old nun living with her is now suspected of having contracted the influenza virus after picking her up at the airport. Her blood sample is now examined by the U.S. health authorities. If confirmed, it will be the first human-to-human transmission reported here. The KCDC said she, too, is doing well at the hospital.
The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs raised its alert level and began conducting emergency measures. The government has secured 2.6 million doses of Tamiflu and Relenza, which are said to be the most effective antiviral drugs yet, and is planning to buy 2.5 million units more. All medical facilities in the nation will also be on high alert for another possible influenza patient. The KCDC conducts mini-rapid antigen tests on airplanes arriving from Mexico.
The disease center asked people to pay extra attention on their personal hygiene. ``Please refrain from visiting crowded places and wash your hands as often as possible,'' KCDC official Jeon Byeong-yul said.
According to the U.S. CDC, the influenza is a respiratory disease of pigs triggered by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks among livestock. People do not normally get it, but human infections can and do happen.
Pork is safe from the disease as meat is okay when cooked over 71 degrees Celsius heat.
In late March and early April 2009, cases of human infection with the viruses were first reported in Southern California and near San Antonio, Texas. It became evident that the disease had started out in Mexico, where thousands of people were infected and more than 150 are presumed to have died from it. The Mexican government acknowledged 16 of it.