Sixteen more people, including a 15-month-old infant, are being tested to see if they have contracted swine flu, health officials said yesterday.

So far in Korea, a total of 23 people who became sick after recent trips to swine-flu-affected areas - mostly Mexico and some U.S. states - have received or are receiving viral tests for possible infection. Six of them have been confirmed negative, and one was found to be infected with the disease on Tuesday.



"The identified woman is fast recovering after prompt treatment," said Jeon Byeong-ryul, head of Division of Public Health Crisis Response at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"To prevent (passing on the disease) and monitor the development of the disease, she will be quarantined at her residence for more than a week," he added.

The 51-year-old female patient is believed to have contracted the disease after contact with a local driver during her Mexico trip from April 18 to 25. Upon her arrival at Incheon International Airport, on Sunday, she felt light flu symptoms and reported her illness to a local health center.

After finding that she had been accompanied by another traveler, health officials also conducted tests on the other woman but found no symptoms related to the flu virus.

Jeon also announced that officials were looking into the possible infection of 337 people who were aboard the same plane as the confirmed female patient. Of the 158 people tested as of yesterday, 155 have been found not infected with the disease and three were under inspection.

Officials have had difficulty tracking 141 others, including foreign travelers and transit passengers, as Mexico and South Korea have a mutual visa-waiver program and there is no direct flight connecting the two countries. Helped by local travel agencies and immigration offices, they are stepping up efforts to secure passenger lists.

According to the disease control center, a total of 149,234 travelers have passed through thermal scanners installed in airport inspection areas over the last three days. Of them, 49 people who showed high fevers were investigated by doctors at airports. As none had been to affected areas in recent days, they were not hospitalized, officials said.

Despite the government`s decision to raise the emergency alert level to "attention" on Tuesday, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries yesterday announced it would continue pork imports from North America with beefing up quarantine efforts.

"According to World Health Organization and World Organization for Animal Health, there`s no evidence that swine influenza is spreading by contact with pigs," Agriculture Minister Chang Tae-pyong said yesterday.

"Although we will respond to the situation promptly, an over reaction is unnecessary," he added.

According to officials, almost half the pork consumed in Korea is imported from North America. With the outbreak of the global swine flu, the pork price in the domestic market has shrank almost 10 percent.

In an effort to allay concerns of consumers and slowing pork businesses, the agriculture minister proposed the media name the swine flu influenza as "Mexico Influenza" or "North American Influenza."

However, Jeon of the disease control center was cautious about the proposal, saying an agreement should be made between WHO and other countries to rename the virus in such a way. The control center asked the media to report the disease as "SI" to promote better understanding among the public.

By Lee Ji-yoon



(jylee@heraldm.com)