Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
New flu is suspected in five deaths
October 27, 2009
Korea’s health authorities said five people may have died yesterday of the A(H1N1) flu, including three children. The victims include two elementary school children in Daejeon and one middle school student in Gyeonggi, plus two women in their 70s.
Health authorities only confirmed that the middle school boy died of influenza. They are still examining exact cause of death and transmission route for the other four.
If all five people are confirmed to have died of the new flu, the death tally will be 25.
According to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs’ Korea Centers for Disease Control, a 9-year-old boy surnamed Yun and an 11-year-old girl surnamed Jeong died yesterday morning at a local hospital in Daejeon.
The two children went to different elementary schools but both had suffered from cerebral palsy and received treatment at the same community center. They were both hospitalized with high fevers.
A third victim - a middle school boy surnamed Yun, 14 - died yesterday afternoon at a local hospital in northern Gyeonggi. Yun was hospitalized on Oct. 23. The boy had suffered from asthma, according to the health authorities.
Both women in their 70s lived in Gyeongsang area, and were categorized as being in high-risk groups. One suffered from diabetes and the other suffered from angina pectoris.
Last week, the number of schools with at least two students infected with the new flu surpassed 870, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said. The Education Ministry said 59 schools nationwide have now been forced to close down temporarily after some of their students became infected, a threefold increase since Oct. 20.
The ministry ordered city and provincial education offices across the country to continue daily body temperature checks of schoolteachers and students. It also asked schools to make sure students wash their hands frequently. But ministry officials rejected media speculation that they are considering closing all schools.
“With the new flu infections by contact in the local community on the rapid increase, preventing the spread of the flu virus by shutting down schools for short periods would no longer work,” said Jang Gi-won, head of the Education Ministry’s planning department.
State-provided A(H1N1) influenza vaccination is set to begin today. As recommended by the World Health Organization, the government will first vaccinate 800,000 health care and epidemic control workers nationwide.
From Nov. 18, 7.5 million elementary, middle and high school students will get vaccinations. Vaccinations for infants and expecting women will start in December. Seniors, patients with chronic disease and soldiers will begin receiving doses in January. Some 7.16 million Koreans, or 35 percent of the total population, will be vaccinated by February.
Meanwhile, President Lee Myung-bak talked about U.S. President Barack Obama’s national flu emergency declaration. “Many question whether we’re safe,” Lee was quoted as saying. “We need to explain to the media and public that the we are taking even more thorough preventive measures to arrest the new flu than any other country.”
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2911776&cat_code=03
October 27, 2009
Korea’s health authorities said five people may have died yesterday of the A(H1N1) flu, including three children. The victims include two elementary school children in Daejeon and one middle school student in Gyeonggi, plus two women in their 70s.
Health authorities only confirmed that the middle school boy died of influenza. They are still examining exact cause of death and transmission route for the other four.
If all five people are confirmed to have died of the new flu, the death tally will be 25.
According to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs’ Korea Centers for Disease Control, a 9-year-old boy surnamed Yun and an 11-year-old girl surnamed Jeong died yesterday morning at a local hospital in Daejeon.
The two children went to different elementary schools but both had suffered from cerebral palsy and received treatment at the same community center. They were both hospitalized with high fevers.
A third victim - a middle school boy surnamed Yun, 14 - died yesterday afternoon at a local hospital in northern Gyeonggi. Yun was hospitalized on Oct. 23. The boy had suffered from asthma, according to the health authorities.
Both women in their 70s lived in Gyeongsang area, and were categorized as being in high-risk groups. One suffered from diabetes and the other suffered from angina pectoris.
Last week, the number of schools with at least two students infected with the new flu surpassed 870, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said. The Education Ministry said 59 schools nationwide have now been forced to close down temporarily after some of their students became infected, a threefold increase since Oct. 20.
The ministry ordered city and provincial education offices across the country to continue daily body temperature checks of schoolteachers and students. It also asked schools to make sure students wash their hands frequently. But ministry officials rejected media speculation that they are considering closing all schools.
“With the new flu infections by contact in the local community on the rapid increase, preventing the spread of the flu virus by shutting down schools for short periods would no longer work,” said Jang Gi-won, head of the Education Ministry’s planning department.
State-provided A(H1N1) influenza vaccination is set to begin today. As recommended by the World Health Organization, the government will first vaccinate 800,000 health care and epidemic control workers nationwide.
From Nov. 18, 7.5 million elementary, middle and high school students will get vaccinations. Vaccinations for infants and expecting women will start in December. Seniors, patients with chronic disease and soldiers will begin receiving doses in January. Some 7.16 million Koreans, or 35 percent of the total population, will be vaccinated by February.
Meanwhile, President Lee Myung-bak talked about U.S. President Barack Obama’s national flu emergency declaration. “Many question whether we’re safe,” Lee was quoted as saying. “We need to explain to the media and public that the we are taking even more thorough preventive measures to arrest the new flu than any other country.”
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2911776&cat_code=03