Infectious diseases on the rise in Korea
The number of infectious diseases in South Korea surged last year, reflecting the steady rise in the average temperatures on the Korean Peninsula, and raising concerns about a change in broader disease patterns.
A total of 77,215 Koreans came down with infectious diseases in 2013, up about 50 percent from the previous year, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Tick-borne infections took a bigger share, as their habitats moved north as the average temperatures went up.
“The Korean Peninsula’s climate is turning subtropical and more people are coming in and out of the country,” said Kim Woo-joo, professor of infectious disease at the Korea University Guro Hospital. “We have to take steps to prevent new diseases from spreading in the country.”
The change in the environment, possibly initiated by global warming, has been linked to the spike in the number of new infections in Korea such as scrub typhus, a febrile illness caused by Rickettsia tsutsugamushi bacteria and characterized by fever, headaches, rashes and eschar formation, or scabbing. Scrub typhus is also known as tsutsugamushi disease or Japanese river fever.
Source: Korea Herald
Published: 05 Jan 2014