New probable influenza case reported here

New probable influenza case reported here

The nation reported an additional probable case of H1N1 flu yesterday involving a 62-year-old woman who was aboard the same passenger airplane from Mexico with the first confirmed patient.
Korea now has two probable cases of the disease, which has officially caused nearly 20 deaths in Mexico and infected 760 people in 18 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand.

The latest patient is being quarantined at a military hospital south of Seoul, said Lee Jong-koo, director at the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Her case was established last night, and she was quarantined early this morning," Lee said in a televised briefing.
On Saturday, the center said that a 51-year-old nun confirmed as infected after a community service trip to Mexico has fully recovered. But officials said Sunday that her release remains pending.
"Test results have confirmed the first probable patient, whose case was reported on Monday, was infected with Influenza A (H1N1)," it said.
But she has been responding well to treatment, it added.
More than 330 passengers were on the airplane that arrived here last Sunday.
About two dozen people who sat close to the confirmed patient aboard the plane tested negative, according to center officials.
About 140 of them were excluded from examination because they were either foreigners or connecting passengers. Some 180 tested negative, while about a dozen have yet to be located.
The two other possible cases - a 44-year-old woman and a 57-year-old man - did not travel to affected countries, raising concerns the disease has passed from person to person in the country.
The 44-year-old woman, also a nun, who lived with the 51-year-old, who was showing symptoms at the time, drove her from the airport to their dormitory.
Test results for the 44-year-old were not yet available and she will remain isolated in a hospital for the time being, health authorities said.
But the 57-year-old man, who had been also showing probable swine flu symptoms, tested negative.
Tests are underway on 23 other people, the KCDCP said.
Korea became the 14th country that reported a confirmed case of Influenza A and the second among Asian countries following Hong Kong, health officials said.
Korea has stepped up inspections of inbound travelers after the first suspected case was reported on Monday.
It carries out rapid antigen tests on inbound travelers who are suffering from fever or symptoms of respiratory illness and restricts travel to Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak.
If confirmed through laboratory tests, patients will immediately be isolated. Travelers to Mexico and the United States will also be educated on the prevention of swine flu, health officials said.
The government said it would double its stockpile of Tamiflu and other anti-influenza drugs to treat up to 5 million people.

From news reports

2009.05.04

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