A woman wears a mask (123rf)
A woman wears a mask (123rf)

Seasonal influenza is spreading rapidly among children and teenagers in Korea, with cases more than doubling in just one week.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Friday, about 51 out of every 1,000 outpatients visiting 300 monitoring hospitals between Nov. 2 and 8 showed influenza-like illness, defined as having a fever of 38 degrees Celsius or higher accompanied by symptoms such as a cough or sore throat.

The figure marks a 122.4 percent increase from the previous week.

The rise has been steep over the past month. Suspected flu cases increased from 7.9 per 1,000 patients between Oct. 12 and Oct. 18, to 13.6 between Oct. 19 and Oct. 25, and then to 22.8 between Oct. 26 and Nov. 1.

Last week’s rate is also 5.5 times higher than the seasonal epidemic threshold of 9.1 cases per 1,000, prompting authorities to raise the influenza alert level from “moderate” to “high.”

This year’s flu season has also arrived far earlier than last year. During the same period in 2024, just 4.0 per 1,000 patients showed suspected flu symptoms, meaning this year’s rate is more than 12 times higher.

Children and teenagers are driving much of the surge.

Among 7-to-12-year-olds, the rate jumped to 138.1 cases per 1,000 last week from 68.4 the week before. For children aged 1 to 6, the rate rose to 82.1 from 40.6, and for teens aged 13-18, it increased to 75.6 from 34.4.

All three age groups saw their rates more than double.

Hospitalizations are also rising. In a sample of 221 hospitals, 356 patients were admitted for flu-like symptoms last week, compared with 174 the previous week.


ssh@heraldcorp.com