S. Korea reports two 'probable' cases of type-A flu virus

(ATTN: REPLACES swine flu with new terms in slug, headline and throughout; ADDS
details in para 3-5: TRIMS)
SEOUL, May 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's health authorities on Friday reported two
additional "probable" cases of type-A influenza, raising concerns that a
person-to-person transmission of the highly contagious disease has taken 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 contracted the new flu
virus without traveling to affected countries. She lived with another woman who
was recently reported as the country's first probable type-A influenza case on
Tuesday.
The first patient, a 51-year-old woman, has been quarantined at a
state-designated hospital for treatment and is reportedly recovering. Whether she
was really infected with the disease will be determined on Saturday, according to
a source.
If the two cases are confirmed to be the variant H1N1 virus, it would mark the
country's first person-to-person transfer of the new flu.
The other new patient has no ties with the first probable flu case, but the
patient, who is in his 50s, didn't travel overseas, according to a senior
official at the disease control center.
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.
The new influenza, widely known as swine flu, which regularly causes outbreaks
mostly among pigs and is transmittable to humans, is spreading across the globe
at a faster-than-expected pace. According to media reports, it affected people in
around 30 countries 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 has kept 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.
In an additional precautionary move, the disease control center said Friday that
it will oblige Korean residents in Mexico coming to visit their motherland to
stay for a week at the houses they visit.
As of early Friday, a total of 59 Korean people reported possible flu infections
to authorities. Thirty-eight turned out to be negative, while 18 are still being
tested and three were categorized as probable swine flu cases, according to the
latest report by the KCDC.
Meanwhile, the WHO has decided to 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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