Many countries are on alert, taking independent measures to prevent Zika from crossing into
its borders and spreading further.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also held a special meeting to
discuss the situation at home...
with the best lines of defense right now... being heightened monitoring and public education.
News Features tonight with Lee Ji-won.
The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention convened on Tuesday to assess the level of
local threat posed by the Zika virus.
As part of an action plan, it announced it would keep close watch on mosquitoes, the
main transmitters of the virus, by studying their presence and movement around the country.
It will also expand public safety campaigns to spread awareness about the virus and infection
symptoms, not just for citizens but also visitors who enter the country.
It also started operating a website introducing and explaining the virus.
This comes on the back of the WHO's declaration of the virus as a public health emergency
of international concern and growing fear.
Zika is a mosquito-borne virus that generally causes mild symptoms in adults including low-grade
fever, rash and red eyes....
But it's also been linked to brain deformities in newborns.
Outbreaks have historically occurred in remote parts of Africa and the Pacific Islands, but
it has spread quickly to South America and other regions since it was found in Brazil
in May of last year.
There are currently 28 countries that have reported new cases of the virus in the past
two months.
But not everyone is fully aware of information on the virus.
And there's real concern about the potential spread of misinformation regarding its effects
and how it's transmitted, which is one of the biggest points of misunderstanding.
"I heard that the virus could be transmitted through blood transfusions or sexual intercourse...
If that's true, the virous could spread more easily and become a really big threat."
Experts say there is a low chance of an infected patient transmitting the virus through blood,
such as in transfusions.
It's an infrequent mechanism and no cases of this have been recorded.
However, there was one report of the virus allegedly spreading through sexual intercourse.
In 2008, U.S. biologist Dr. Brian Foy, who had been infected with the virus during his
research in Senegal, infected his wife, who had not left the state of Colorado.
But experts say evidence of this was not confirmed and data was insufficient to warrant a related
warning.
"When a patient has a high level of the virus in his or her blood, there's a chance it could
spread into other bodily fluids such as semen... which leads to the possibility of it being
transmitted throuhg sexual intercourse.
But the chances of this happening are very slim, as a set of extreme conditions has to
be met.
So it's not likely that person-to-person sexual transmission will become a main route."
"But with the virus found in Indonesia on Monday and in other parts of Asia, there are
concerns that the virus could eventually find its way into Korea."
"It hasn't been long since we've recovered from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome
oubreak.
So if the virus comes to Korea, I think it will create a lot of fear."
Local authorities say there is a very low possibility that the virus will spread in
the country.
"The mosquito that transmits the virus is the Aedes aegypti -- better known as the yellow
fever mosquito, which is famous for spreading dengue fever or yellow fever virus.
But this mosquito doesn't exist in Korea....
We do have the tiger mosquito which has be known to transmit dengue.
But mosquitoes are inactive in the winter and no cases of Zika have been reported yet."
The Korea CDC and medical experts reiterated the low possibility of the Zika virus spreading
in Korea, calling the current phase a "stage of concern."
But they have prepared measures to deal with suspected cases in order to promptly diagnose
patients and follow through with medical support or a quarantine if needed.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.