South Korea has confirmed its sixth Zika virus infection in a woman who returned from the Dominican Republic, local health authorities said Friday.

The latest Zika patient was discovered 51 days after the fifth case was confirmed here.


The 28-year-old South Korean woman has tested positive for the mosquito-borne virus after returning home from the Dominican Republic on June 23, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The woman, whose identity is withheld, had stayed in the Caribbean nation from June 2014. She entered South Korea via the United States and Taiwan.

She has shown symptoms of rash, muscular pain, joint pain and conjunctivitis since Monday and went to the Seoul National University Hospital on Wednesday, health authorities said.

"She is not pregnant. We are currently conducting an in-depth epidemiological investigation on her," the KCDC said.

The latest case raises the number of confirmed infections in South Korea to six -- one from the Dominican Republic, one from Brazil, one from Vietnam and three from the Philippines. All of them had mosquito bites during their trip.

The fifth case of Zika virus infection in South Korea was found in a man in his 30s who came back from a business trip to the Philippines.

The KDCD asked overseas travelers to take care of themselves during visits to those countries and recommended pregnant women cancel or delay their plans.

The virus, first discovered in Africa, has been linked to thousands of birth defects in newborn babies like abnormally small heads and improperly developed brains in Brazil.

Months ahead of the Brazil Summer Olympics, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus outbreak a global emergency. (Yonhap)