South Korea reports first confirmed case of H1N1 flu virus
Posted: 02 May 2009 0807 hrs

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SEOUL: South Korea on Saturday reported its first confirmed case of H1N1 flu virus, involving a 51-year-old woman who returned from Mexico last weekend.

"Test results have confirmed the first probable patient, whose case was reported on Monday, was infected with Influenza A (H1N1)," the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDCP) said in a statement.

The woman, reportedly a nun, who returned from Mexico on Sunday, was among three patients who had been classified as probable cases.

But she has been responding well to treatment and is expected to be discharged from a military hospital on Monday, health officials said.

The two other probable 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, Yonhap news agency said.

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, was tested negative and ruled out.

Tests are underway on 23 other people, the KCDCP said.

South 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.

South Korea has stepped up inspections of inbound travellers after the first suspected case was reported on Monday.

It carries out rapid antigen tests on inbound travellers who are suffering from fever or symptoms of respiratory illness and restricts travel to Mexico, the epicentre of the outbreak.

If confirmed through laboratory tests, patients will immediately be isolated. Travellers to Mexico and the United States will also be educated on the prevention of swine flu, health officials said.

South Korea said it would double its stockpile of Tamiflu and other anti-influenza drugs to treat up to five million people.


- AFP/so