(LEAD) S. Korea reports two 'probable' cases of swine flu

(ATTN: MODIFIES first 4 paras; ADDS details from 5th para)
SEOUL, May 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's health authorities on Friday reported two
additional "probable" cases of swine flu, raising concerns that a
person-to-person transmission of the highly contagious disease took place in the
country.

The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said in a statement
that a female patient in her 40s is suspected of having contracting the influenza
without traveling to affected countries. She lived with another woman who was
recently reported as the country's first probable swine-flu case on Tuesday.
If the two cases are confirmed to be the variant H1N1 type-A influenza, it would
mean the country's first person-to-person transfer of swine flu. The first
patient, a 51-year-old woman, has been quarantined at a state-designated hospital
for treatment and is reportedly recovering.
Others suspected of having been infected with the flu virus have no ties with the
first probable patient, the disease control center said.
Patients are identified as "probable" when they test positive for type-A
influenza that regularly causes outbreaks among pigs and is transmittable to
humans, but negative for human variants of the virus.
It takes up to two weeks to confirm if a person has caught the swine flu, that
claimed more than 170 lives in Mexico and one in the United States.
Swine flu is spreading across the globe at a faster-than-expected pace, bringing
the number of affected countries to around 30 including Canada, Spain and New
Zealand. Japan recently reported a suspected swine flu case.
The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier warned that swine flu is threatening
to become a pandemic, raising its swine flu alert level to the second-highest
level.
South Korea has also intensified precautionary efforts by restricting travel to
Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak, while tightening quarantines of pork
imported from affected countries.
On Tuesday, the disease control center raised 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 government keeps the alert level unchanged but set up a task force that will
operate around the clock to stem the spread of the deadly virus in the nation.
As of early Friday, a total of 59 Korean people reported to authorities for
possible flu infection and 38 turned out to be negative, with 18 still being
tested and 3 categorized as probable swine flu cases, according to the latest
report by the KCDC.
Meanwhile, the WHO said Thursday that it will stop using the term "swine flu" and
use instead technical term "H1N1 influenza A" to avoid confusion over the danger
posed by pigs. Experts say that the virus is not transmitted by consuming pork.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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