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Korea confirm‎s third cholera case, failure of early prevention

Korea confirm‎s third cholera case, failure of early prevention

Posted September. 01, 2016 06:50,   

Updated September. 01, 2016 07:07

한국어

It has been reported that the third cholera case was confirmed in Geoje Island in South Gyeongsang Province. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Korea Tuesday, a man in his 60s was confirmed positive to cholera after showing symptoms such as diarrhea, which appeared after he had consumed sardines and squids in Geoje Island. About 100 diarrhea patients have been treated in Geoje alone, putting the Korean public health officials on emergency as cholera is a diarrheal disease. The Korean health authorities confirmed on Aug. 23 the first cholera case in 15 years. A man in his 50s in Gwangju City was confirmed to have been infected with cholera after his visit to Geoje Island. Two days after the announcement of the first cholera patient, a woman in her 70s living on Geoje Island was also confirmed that she had been infected with the disease. The government said on Aug. 25 that it would set up a special task force to prevent the spread of the disease but unfortunately another patient has been confirmed.

The growing consensus is that the cause of disease is coastal waters off Geoje Island as all of the three cholera patients reportedly consumed seafood in Geoje Island. Heat wave may have attributed to an increase in temperature of surface water of sea, leading to growth of cholera bacteria. The health authorities should have been more active to prevent outbreak of any disease from heat wave this summer. “It makes no sense to see outbreak of cholera in the 21st century,” Rep. Lee Jung-hyun of the Saenuri Party blamed the Korean disease prevention authorities. It is a shame that Korea confirmed cholera victims after so many years as the disease is usually found in underdeveloped countries.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of Korea reported the medical institution in Geoje to the police on Wednesday, accusing the institution of belated reporting of the suspected victim of cholera to the public health authorities. “Seafood is a leading culprit in outbreak of cholera and it is impossible to prevent cholera infection considering the amount of seafood and a wide area of sea,” said Jeong Ki-seok, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The medical institution should be blamed for its poor management and incompetence, but the public health authorities seem irresponsible after making such remarks. As a follow-up measure to the MERS incident in Korea last year, the director of the disease control center was promoted to a vice-ministerial position and the emergency operation centers have been established for a real-time response system to deal with infectious disease.

The heat wave is gone, but the first Japanese encephalitis patient of this year was confirmed in Gwangju City on Tuesday. In addition, about 203 people have been infected with hepatitis C in Sunchang, increasing projections for the potential mass infection. The public health authorities are now calling for “stronger disease prevention” but it is too late to turn it back. The latest Cholera outbreak should have been prevented if we remember the MERS incident stemmed from the government’s incompetence.



고미석기자 mskoh119@donga.com