By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
South Korea reported its third death from influenza A Thursday, raising fears that the country may see an escalating number of victims of the contagious disease that is spreading rapidly worldwide.
The victim, whose identity was withheld, is a man in his 60s living in Seoul, health authorities said. He checked into a university hospital in Seoul on Monday for symptoms of pneumonia. He was being treated for the illness but then died of blood poisoning shock.
The deceased tested positive for H1N1 shortly after arriving at the hospital. He was prescribed with antiviral drugs and was treated in isolation.
"The patient had already been suffering from pneumonia and was making visits to the hospital. He came to the emergency room when his cold symptoms worsened," a staffer from the hospital was quoted as telling Yonhap News. "He was already suffering from blood poisoning and respiratory problems, and was receiving emergency procedures at the intensive care unit but failed to recover."
The man is known to have neither travelled to a foreign country recently nor been in contact with other H1N1 carriers. It is presumed that he caught the disease from local community activities, the second victim to have picked up the virus locally.
The latest case is the country's third death from H1N1, with the first two coming on Aug. 15 and 16.
The health authorities started investigating the exact cause of the death and detailed results are expected to be released today, according to the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention
As of Tuesday, the total number of infections from influenza A in South Korea had reached 3,332, of which some 1,000 are being treated in isolation. The other patients reportedly have recovered.
The government fears that the death toll from H1N1 could reach as high as 20,000 here in the worst-case scenario, although some doctors disagree with the figure.
The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs and other related ministries will form a pan-government task force to draw up countermeasures.
It is the first time a pan-government unit is being organized in response to a specific disease. Explaining that it is too early to operate a central disaster headquarters, authorities said that the unit will be temporary.
The unit, to be headed by the health minister, will bring together ranking civil servants from participating ministries and will map out plans to prevent the spread of the contagious disease.
If the number of patients and deaths rise significantly, the government plans to declare a national emergency.