South Korean official said the government confirms a suspected case of human infection of swine influenza in the country, the South Korean government said Tuesday.
A 51-year-old South Korean woman who recently returned from a trip to Mexico has been classified as a possible swine flu patient, director of Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) Lee Jong-koo said at a press conference.
It was the first case of suspected human infection of swine influenza in the country.
"Three people from a trip to Mexico were first suspected of possible infection, but two showed negative results on the test while one of them is still going through a further examination," Lee said.
Lee also said that the KCDC will report the result of the examination in the morning of Wednesday.
The South Korean government on Monday designated swine flu as an infectious livestock disease and allowed authorities to limit movement. It also ordered to destroy and bury the sick animals, and compensate farmers if the outbreak of swine influenza is discovered in the country.
The agriculture and forestry ministry said Monday that the government and the Korea Swine Association are cooperatively setting up new standard operating procedures to check for possible infections of the H1N1 virus, and devising actions to be taken if a sick animal is discovered.
The South Korean government announced last Saturday to tighten quarantine measures for pork from the United States and Mexico after outbreaks of swine influenza in these countries were confirmed by the World Health Organization.
The government on Monday began to conduct inspections of the belongings of tourists who have traveled back from the U.S. and Mexico.
The World Health Organization confirmed on Saturday that dozens of people had been diagnosed with swine influenza in Mexico and the United States.
According to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, South Korea imported 28,726 tons of pork from the United States and 208 tons of pork from Mexico into the first quarter of this year.
(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2009)
