A young, previously healthy person who caught and recovered from COVID-19 was infected again with a different strain of the pathogen, a recent study in South Korea shows. A 21-year-old woman who had been admitted to a hospital with mild COVID-19 symptoms in Seoul in March tested positive again in April, six days after being discharged on March 30, according to the study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. She was screened again after she reported a cough that kept getting wo

Perhaps one of the most frequently posed questions since the pandemic’s onset is how the new virus may compare to seasonal influenza. Infectious disease specialist Dr. Oh Myoung-don, who leads the National Medical Center’s committee for clinical management of emerging infectious diseases, said during a press conference Tuesday that complications from “COVID-19 might not be more severe than the flu.” “Certain cardiovascular and neurological complications have been

A survey in August showed that people in Denmark were happier than people from any other advanced economy about their government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. They were more satisfied than South Koreans. 　 Some 95 percent of Danes believed their government was doing a good job of handling the pandemic, while 86 percent of Koreans felt the same way about their government, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. 　 Though Denmark is also grappling with a resurgence of COVI

South Korean researchers developed a machine learning model for predicting a COVID-19 mortality risk in patients at the point of care. The research team at the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital said in Monday’s press release the model was able to estimate poor outcomes in patients with COVID-19 for over 90 percent of the cases. The model, as described in a study published last week on Scientific Reports, is based on 10,237 patients diagnosed here between Jan. 23 and April

South Korea on Thursday reported one confirmed case and two suspected cases of the Japanese encephalitis, all three of them in Gyeonggi Province.  According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, a woman in her 60s was diagnosed with the mosquito-borne disease on Wednesday. The two suspected patients are a woman in her 70s and a man in his 50s. All three started exhibiting symptoms such as fever and disorientation last month, the agency said. Among patients infected with t

　Cancer has been the No. 1 cause of death in South Korea since 1983. 　The statistics agency said 574.8 deaths were reported per 100,000 people here last year. It also said 158.2 per 100,000 had died of cancer. 　Heart disease is the second-largest cause of death here, with 60.4 deaths per 100,000 people, followed by pneumonia with 45.1 deaths per 100,000 people. 　The leading causes of death included cerebrovascular disease, suicide, diabetes and Alzheimer‘s disease. (Yonhap)

COVID-19 brings greater access to alcohol with fewer constraints

Understanding transmission by asymptomatic patients has been cited as a key factor in controlling the spread of COVID-19 in communities. Korean public health authorities have repeatedly warned of the potential of asymptomatic patients to be behind a “silent spread” of the disease. “Epidemiological investigations reveal approximately 40 percent of all confirmed cases so far are asymptomatic,” said Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s deputy chief

COVID-19 spotlights health hazards of smoking

Asymptomatic carriers may be capable of spreading the novel coronavirus to others on airplanes, a new study published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed. The study, published in the peer-reviewed Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, found that a passenger on an evacuation flight from Milan to Seoul appears to have contracted the disease after sharing the same bathroom as an asymptomatic patient. That passenger, who was seated three rows away from the said patient,

The novel coronavirus infection is relatively unnoticeable in children, leaving them less likely to get diagnosed. And despite their lack of distinct symptoms, children with COVID-19 can shed the virus for as long as over two weeks, a recent study found, highlighting their potential role in spreading the disease silently in the community. The study published Aug. 28 in the Journal of the American Medical Association assessed 91 children with COVID-19 in Korea to find that only 8.5 percent of t

Most COVID-19 patients under 50 have recovered without oxygen therapy, according to a study conducted by the National Medical Center’s clinical committee for emerging infectious diseases, supporting findings of previous studies that showed age is associated with worse outcomes. The study, which assessed the clinical outcomes of 3,060 patients who received care at 55 hospitals during the first wave of the epidemic here between Jan. 20 and May 31, found none of the 1,324 patients under 50

Doctors worry about people not going to hospitals over coronavirus fears

Last month, a South Korean COVID-19 survivor underwent a double-lung transplant that ended up saving her life -- a procedure that is the first of its kind in the country and only the ninth worldwide since the outbreak began. Behind her monthslong recovery and the eventual transplant are a squad of doctors and nurses who say coronavirus survival takes team effort. When the 50-year-old woman arrived at the emergency room of the Hallym University Medical Center in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, in la

Summer is in full swing amid an ever deepening pandemic. As the virus is new, figuring out how to navigate the season safely can be daunting. Health experts share their responses to some of the popular queries about the coronavirus in summertime. Will hot temperatures mitigate the spread? Contrary to earlier conjectures, warmer weather does not stop the coronavirus from spreading. Countries with hot weather have reported outbreaks as well. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention