The South Korean government has announced preemptive measures against the Zika virus that recently began to spread in the Americas.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday it would include the virus on its list of priority diseases. The law requires medical institutions to immediately report cases to health authorities and allow systematic monitoring and diagnosis. As of now, a total of 70 diseases are on the list.

Zika, a tropical virus that has been blamed for causing microcephaly – a birth defect in which the baby has an abnormally small head, which can cause brain damage and death -- has swept Latin America and the Caribbean since May last year. Nearly 3,900 suspected cases have been reported in Brazil, with 230 of them confirmed. New cases were recently reported in the U.S., U.K. and other countries. It is suspected that the disease is infected by Aedes aegypti mosquitos.
 

While no infections have been reported in South Korea, the health authorities advised caution for people visiting virus-affected countries, especially pregnant women.

While the causality between the mosquito bite and pregnancy has not been officially confirmed, the World Health Organization has expressed particular caution for pregnant women as they are thought to be the most vulnerable.

The disease prevention agency will list the 24 countries in which the disease broke out at www.cde.go.kr to better raise the awareness of the mosquito-borne disease.

The agency also advised anyone who shows symptoms within two weeks of traveling to affected countries to visit medical institutions and inform of their travel history.

If infected, patients show symptoms of fever, rash, bloodshot eyes or arthralgia. Most patents naturally recover after three to seven days, the WHO said. No vaccines have been developed so far.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)