By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
South Korean health authorities confirmed the deaths of a 63-year-old woman and a man in his 50s from influenza A (H1N1) over the weekend, the first deadly cases here.
Following the death of a Japanese patient, the disease has claimed the lives of more than 1,400 people worldwide.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), the woman in Seoul died Sunday morning from multiple organ failure and pulmonary edema. She was diagnosed with influenza on Aug. 7. She had suffered from high fever and throat and muscle aches since July 24 and had experienced breathing problems since July 29. She was given the antibiotic Tamiflu from Aug. 4 to 8.
The center said the woman had been on medication since 2003 for gastritis and for hypertension since 2008. She also underwent knee joint surgery last year.
Jeon Byeong-yul, a KCDC official, said the case is alarming since the woman likely contracted the disease from a neighbor. "She has never been abroad nor had any contact with those who have been abroad or suffered from the disease. Her husband and medical doctors were all confirmed negative for the virus," he said.
On Saturday, a man in his 50s died shortly after developing acute pneumonia. The deceased patient was diagnosed with influenza several days after returning from a five-day-trip to Thailand. The case took place on the same day a 50-year-old Japanese man in Okinawa died apparently from complications caused by the disease.
South Korea was considered to be relatively safe from the global pandemic that, according to the World Health Organization, has affected 177,457 people around the world.
There have been 2,089 cases reported here as of Aug. 16, with 402 people isolated at their homes or state-designated hospitals.
But doctors worry that once school starts in September, a mass infection may occur as students who have been overseas for the holidays return and raise the possibility of transmission among classmates and family members. Government data show that 50.1 percent of flu cases here involve inbound travelers, while 14.7 percent contracted the disease locally. The center also said that eight classmates at a high school in Daegu were confirmed to have contracted the virus Saturday.
Jeon said the authorities would release 500,000 doses of Tamiflu to regional hospitals and public healthcare centers. Suspected patients will be provided with the drug.
The government is considering shutting down individual schools for a certain period if an infection is confirmed among staff or students.