Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Measles infections spreading; 8 newly test positive
A notice on the entrance of a public health office in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, advises people to inform the staffers in advance of fevers and rashes, as measles infections have been spreading in the region, Jan. 14. / Yonhap
By Kim Rahn
By Kim Rahn
Measles infections are growing here, putting health authorities on high alert.
Five infants aged under four as well as three of their mothers were confirmed to have contracted measles in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday.
The infants were attending two daycare centers there. The three mothers tested positive, but they had had vaccinations in the past and their symptoms were not grave, according to the provincial health office.
Some of the patients had visited a hospital in the nearby city of Siheung where an eight-month-old infant had been confirmed to have measles earlier on Jan. 11.
“We are working out exactly how they contracted it,” an official of Gyeonggi's regional health office said, adding those patients have been hospitalized at quarantined wards.
The provincial government had an emergency meeting with officials of the health offices and major hospitals in the region to discuss measures to prevent further spread of the disease.
The authorities are examining about 400 people who may have been exposed to the patients, including family members, other infants at the daycare centers and staffers at the hospitals the patients visited.
“We'll be on alert for the next six weeks. If we get additional patients in the region, we'll take countermeasures such as recommending parents not send children to daycare centers,” the official said.
Between last month and last Saturday, 16 measles infections have been confirmed in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province ― eight adults in their 20s to 30s and eight infants. But the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the genotype of the measles found in Gyeonggi was different from that in Daegu and North Gyeongsang.
It has been believed that measles had been eradicated here due to vaccinations, but health authorities say people can contract the disease through overseas travel or contact with foreign visitors carrying the virus.
Measles is an airborne disease spread through coughing or sneezing, and the symptoms include coughing, runny nose, conjunctivitis, high fever and rash.
The authorities advised people showing such symptoms to refrain from physical contact with others and call regional health authorities.