By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
A woman in her 40s was declared brain dead from possible complications from the influenza A (H1N1) virus, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said Friday.
If the woman died from what proves to be new flu-related complications, it would bring the related death toll to five.
With the number of patients swelling and the death toll rising, the government is considering the status of the epidemic.
The patient was diagnosed with influenza Monday after suffering from high fever and respiratory problems.
She was thought to have recovered after taking antiviral drugs, but suddenly developed cerebral edema and hemorrhaging, the health authorities said. If causality is proven this would be the first case of the virus affecting the brain of an infected person.
So far, a total of 5,017 cases of H1N1 have been reported since May.
Many of them have recovered but eight are under intensive care suffering from pneumonia or heart problems.
The government is planning to vaccinate 10 million people by the end of the year, and has set up a round-the-clock control center to monitor the disease.
A government-wide task force is being formed of officials from various ministries in order to handle the outbreak more efficiently. This is the first time a dedicated team has been set up to deal with an epidemic ― previous ones dealt with damage from natural disasters such as typhoons.
Local governments are also implementing preventive measures. Seoul has earmarked 50 billion won to install sanitized hand wash dispensers at movie theaters and other public facilities.
Busan is running a supplementary budget to put similar measures in place.