(5th LD) S. Korea reports first suspected swine flu case

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, first 6 paras; TRIMS, UPDATES throughout)
SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korean health authorities said Tuesday that a
woman suspected of contracting swine flu tested positive for type-A virus,
raising fears the deadly disease might have affected local citizens as it spreads
rapidly across the globe.
"We conducted a throat swab test on the patient and found that the women probably
suffers from swine influenza," the state-run Korea Centers for Disease Control
said in a statement.
Swine flu is a respiratory disease caused by type-A influenza that regularly
causes outbreaks mostly among pigs and is transmittable to humans.
The statement comes after the agency announced earlier that it is conducting
tests on an individual suspected of having contracted swine flu as the patient
showed flu-like symptoms such as coughing and fever.
The 51-year-old woman, reportedly living in Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the
nation's capital, Seoul, was among three travelers who recently returned from
trips to Mexico. The other two were found not to carry the influenza virus after
being quarantined at their homes where anti-viral drugs were administered.
The woman is currently under quarantine at a local hospital, the agency said.
The reports come as governments worldwide are struggling to stem the spread of
the highly infectious virus, which has reportedly killed nearly 150 people in
Mexico alone.
Human cases have also been reported from the United States, Canada and some
European countries, according to media reports, raising concerns that the virus
is spreading at a faster-than-expected pace.
Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) held an emergency meeting and raised
its alert level by one notch to the third highest.
The South Korean government has also tightened quarantine measures for pork
imports from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, while stepping up inspections of
tourists who have traveled to affected areas.
South Korea consumed around 930,000 tons of pork last year, of which 36.5 percent
was imported, according to industry data. Of the imported meat, around half came
from North American countries. Experts say, however, that the virus cannot be
transmitted through the consumption of meat.
On Monday, the KCDC said that it will double its stockpile of Tamiflu and other
influenza drugs. The amount would be enough to treat 5 million people, around 10
percent of the country's population.
In its latest move, the KCDC expanded its quarantine to include travelers who
return from all foreign countries, a stepped-up move from the previous measure
under which those who returned only from affected areas were screened for
infection.
The disease control center, meanwhile, upped its alert level by one notch to
"Yellow" from the previous "Blue," a move aimed at intensifying cooperation to
stem the outbreak of swine influenza.
The Yellow level, the third-highest in the nation's four-tier disaster alert
system, is activated when a suspected or confirmed case of transmittable disease
is reported.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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