New H1N1 infection found in foreign teachers

An additional H1N1 infection case was found among a group of foreign English teachers with other 14 tested already positive for the virus, health officials said yesterday.



The latest case is a 24-year-old U.S. male citizen who arrived in Korea on May 16 along with other 64 colleagues to teach local English instructors.



Invited by a local language institute, they were trained almost a week, staying together at a residential facility.



As the first confirmed patient, who is a 23-year-old American female, had recognized some symptoms upon her arrival here, health officials suspect she might have infected other people.



"The virus could be spread more easily as they were staying together and speaking constantly because of their profession," said Jun Byung-yul, a senior official of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.



"As they were found to have continued daily activities without recognizing their infection, epidemiologists are investigating further infection among people they contacted with in the neighborhood."



The 15 people, including 13 Americans, one Canadian and one Korea, were quarantined at a local isolation hospital for treatment and observation. Even though some of them were sent to an individual language academy, health officials said, they were not teaching yet.



Along with new infection cases of three children who recently returned from New York found Sunday, a total of 18 have been reported to be infected with the virus during the weekend alone.



As of yesterday, the total number of people who have contracted the disease in Korea is 22, with four of them released from the isolation hospital after treatment.



Despite the sudden increase in the infected cases, health officials maintained its current alert level following the measures of the World Health Organization.



"Fortunately the fatality of the disease is not relatively high. Like other countries, we think disease control will be possible at the current alert level," said Jun of the disease control center.



Experts also say such fluctuations in the number of infected cases need not to be taken seriously because symptoms of the disease are less severe than those of an ordinary seasonal flu.



Health officials again emphasized better personal hygiene as prevention against the virus.

By Lee Ji-yoon



(jylee@heraldm.com)