Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Korea reports this year's third fatal case of tick-borne SFTS virus
This May 2013 file photo shows three Asian longhorned ticks (haemaphysalis longicornis), which are known to carry the SFTS virus, on Jeju Island. Courtesy of Jeju Provincial Government
By Jung Min-ho
A man died earlier this month after being infected with a tick-borne virus known as severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), in Korea’s third fatal case of the disease this year.
According to authorities in North Gyeongsang Province, Thursday, the Pohang resident in his 50s started showing symptoms including fever, hand-wringing and speech impairment, May 16, after tending to weeds at a grave site in the neighboring South Gyeongsang Province.
The following day, he was confirmed to have been infected with SFTS. Despite being treated in intensive care, he showed no signs of recovery and died on May 28.
Over the past five months, 12 patients were confirmed to have contracted SFTS nationwide. The other two fatal cases occurred in Seoul and Gangwon Province.
SFTS is an emerging infectious disease that was first reported in China in 2009. Since then, cases have also been reported in 14 provinces of China, and in neighboring Japan and Korea.
The disease is transmitted primarily through bites from virus-carrying ticks.
After an incubation period of five days to two weeks, SFTS starts to cause symptoms such as fever, drowsiness, vomiting, diarrhea and multiple organ failure in some serious cases.
There is no specific antiviral treatment effective for this disease, which has a fatality rate as high as 30 percent. Experts say the best way to prevent the disease is to avoid tick-infested areas like brushy land with high grass and leaf litter.